Review Fix Exclusive: Heyrocco’s Nate Merli Talks ‘Waiting on Cool’ EP And More

Review Fix chats with Heyrocco’s Nate Merli, who discusses the band’s new EP, “Waiting on Cool.”

Review Fix: How did you guys get together?

Nate Merli: Tanner and I met at School of the Arts in the 6th grade. We shared an interest in The Jimi Hendrix Experience and got right to jamming. In those days, we spent most of our time skateboarding and dicking around Town Center so I guess it wasn’t until around 2009 that we actually cut our teeth on-stage at A Dough Re Mi’s local blues jam. There we met blues legend Stone Cold Sarah Cole who introduced me to Chris Cool in Jazz Band. The class was unimpressive but it was the last period of the day and we’d skip school to go practice at Guitar Center. Soon after we picked up Cool we started rehearsing in his parent’s garage where I’m writing this email today.

Review Fix:
What’s your creative process like?

Merli: I look up a song on Youtube I’ve never heard before, skip to the middle, listen to about 3 seconds of it and if I like it I’ll make a song like that. If I don’t, I won’t.

Review Fix: Who influences you guys musically?

Merli: Pavement, Shangri-La’s, Local H, The Replacements, The Zombies

Review Fix: How do you want this EP to be remembered?

Merli: I’d like for just that. To be remembered. To be remembered as the Greatest (Selling) EP Of All Time.

Review Fix: What are your goals for the rest of the year?

Merli: I personally would like to play a few hundred shows, make a few thousand dollars, buy a piano, maybe squeeze a second full-length somewhere in there.

Review Fix: What’s the standout song here? How was it written?

Merli: None of them stand out to me, I’m the wrong person to ask. I suppose Build It Up stands out as it is my favorite to play.

Review Fix: Bottom line, why should someone listen to this EP?

Merli: Because if you don’t I’ll make you.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Merli: Give us about 10 months and you shall see.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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