HAVE MERCY

John Knoerlein and Mike Guilta put an ad in the Baltimore Sun in 1983 for a bass player to start Baltimores Ultimate Metal Band. Rob Michael answered the ad. The three teamed up, started jamming and became good friends. After a few weeks Mike left due to personal differences. John and Rob put an ad in the paper and Tom Maxwell and his friend Nick Ellingson called. The four clicked and started rehearsing and writing songs. Have Mercy was born. John Gontrum answered an ad for a singer. The band played its first show on May 4, 1983. Two shows later Gontrum quit because of musical differences. Sean Zellers was next in on vocals. The band recorded its first demo Pleading For Mercy in mid 84. Sean, unhappy with the bands heavy direction quit. He lasted for three shows. Lee Dayton was next. Lee re-recorded the vocals on Pleading For Mercy and the demo was released. It received a lot of attention from fanzines and metal heads, but failed to get the attention of any record companies.In January of 1985, Have Mercy not very happy with Lee on vocals found Lonnie Fletcher singing for a cover band Cry Baby. He came down to rehearsal and was asked to join the band. He accepted and Lee was given the ax. Lee lasted for four shows. With Lonnie in place, the band started writing for the next demo. In March of that year Nick Ellingson left the band due to musical differences. John Brenner (Lonnies neighbor) was brought in on guitar. The demo Mass Destruction was recorded in June. The demo was a big hit in the underground world, it received a lot of attention from fans and fanzines. Metal Blade Records chose the song The Omen to be on their Metal Massacre 7 compilation album. The band hit the road playing any show it could get. John Brenner not happy with being on the road left the band in November. Nick Ellingson rejoined the band just in time for them to sign a deal with Combat records. Combats idea was to release the Mass Destruction demo as an EP, and see how it did before doing a full length album. The band not happy with the sound of the Mass Destruction demo, went back in the studio and made a new recording . Armageddon Descends was released as part of Combat Bootcamp Series in April of 1986. The EP did very well giving the band a great deal of exposure in the U.S. and Europe. John Knoerlein left the band due to personal differences in July. John Grden took over on drums in August. In December Nick Ellingson left the band for the second time due to musical differences. Dave Brenner (who had played in a band with Grden) took over on guitar.Have Mercy went into 1987 with two new members and playing as many shows as they could get. In April guitarist Tom Maxwell got himself into some trouble and had to get out of town to hide out. While waiting for his return the band went on without him. Also in April on the way to New York the band got into a bad van accident in which Rob Michael broke his neck. The band was forced to take three months off so Rob could recover. When the band started rehearsing again Lonnie was no where to be found , so Rob took over on vocals. (Lonnie showed up a month later asked what was going on, then left for good.) Have Mercy played six shows as a three piece. With Tom still hiding out, John King was brought in as a replacement. The band recorded a new demo Demo 87 in September with Nick Ellingson at the controls. The demo failed to get Combats interest and the band was dropped. In December with things now safe for Tom, he rejoined the band. John King played his last show on December 27.In 1988 with the Line up of Rob Michael- bass and vocals, Tom Maxwell- guitar, Dave Brenner - guitar, and John Grden on drums, they played a few more shows and wrote a few more songs. John Grden wanted a new singer (he thought it might add something to the band). Al Carr ( an old friend of the band) was brought in on vocals. He played one show on April 3 (they didnt know it at the time, but that was the last Have Mercy show). The next week the band went into the studio and recorded the Morbid Reality demo with Al on vocals. After the vocal tracks were recorded the band was not happy with them, so Rob Michael went back and re-recorded the vocals. The demo was sent out to all the metal record labels, but it failed to do anything. The band lost its rehearsal room in June, with that and a lack of interest in the Morbid Reality demo Have Mercy decided to part ways.In 2003 Niclas Johansson of Stormbringer productions contacted Rob Michael about releasing all the old Have Mercy demos. The original tapes were re-mixed by Dave Brenner and The Years Of Mercy was released on Stormbringer as a limited, double LP, 500 copies pressed in white vinyl. In 2004 the Years Of Mercy was released as on CD by Marquee records.