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Meryll so far...
Andrew Hernandez - Vocals, Guitar
and sometimes... OK, so I’m gonna do my best to not leave anything out here. I started Meryll in 2003. I was 19 years old and I was at my parents house for the summer in between college semesters. I didn’t really have “my own room” in this house because they moved into it after I left for school. But the room that I took when I came back was upstairs. It had a bathroom that was connected to it, but I didn’t use it because it was my sister’s. Anyway, I had a computer up there on a table and a couple of speakers. I had a few of my mics up there, and started working on some songs. The first few that I recorded were “Governors at Sea,” “Willamette Industries,” and “Window Seat.” Most evenings I would go with my Dad to clean a couple different office buildings over in Fort Worth. It was tedious I guess, but it was pretty peaceful. I had a lot of time to think out there. I wrote “Governors at Sea” about going out there with him. “Window Seat” -- I wrote that one about going skiing out in Colorado with a bunch of my pals. It would be easy for someone to say that telling people what the songs are about ruins it for them. They would say it doesn’t leave anything up to their own imagination. Well, in a certain sense I disagree. They can imagine me out on a chair lift with my friends. Taking a bus up through the mountains. I went back to school in August and started volunteering at a radio station on campus. They recorded bands live on-the-air and I wanted to do that, too. I met another guy over there who showed up to help -- went by the name of Alex. He wasn’t too big into recording, and didn’t last long, but that’s not the point. I met him for lunch later on, and one night he came over to my dormitory and showed me some of his songs. I thought they were “OK,” but the songs he would write later would leave a lasting impression on me. Anyhow, I showed Alex some songs and he joined Meryll on keys and guitar. And that brings us to Kyle. I met him in high school, back in 1999. My new high school. My family moved from Hemlock, MI (remember that name -- Hemlock. You’ll need to know it later!) to Arlington, TX and man was I bummed out. I was only halfway through 9th grade (and only halfway through our freshman basketball season)! It turned out alright though. OK, back to Kyle. I asked him if he was related to former Pittsburgh Steeler Terry Bradshaw. He said, “No.” I found out he played guitar, though. We were in our first band together. We practiced a lot and had a good ole time for sure. After high-school the band went its separate ways (as many do), but Kyle was in school about 20 miles south of Austin. Close enough to play music together. I gave him a call, and Meryll had another guitar player. And that brings us to Art. This is what you need to know about Art: Whataburger, the valley (Rio Grande), TNE, and drawings of animals doing people things. I met him in sort of a long-shot way. See, back in Arlington, my younger brother Gabe (You’ll need to remember that name, too) had a band that played a show at Ridglea Theater. One of the guys in another band playing that night was Chris Voss. He had a band called The Jumpies. They had a website and a message board. I went on there occasionally, and saw a picture of a guy on there that looked familiar. I couldn’t figure out where I had seen him. A couple days later, I saw him again -- in some Government class. I went up and introduced myself. “I saw you on the internet.” He was amused, I think, but we didn’t say much after that. I saw him in the cafeteria a few weeks later. We motioned a “Hi” to each other, but didn’t say much. The next time I saw him in the cafeteria, I invited myself to sitting down with he and his friends. And that was that. To be continued...
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