Sideshow by Vanya Merc

The growth process isn’t exactly linear. Though creativity generally comes in bursts for me, I find that from a purely intellectual standpoint, there need to pass a few years between album releases, providing me with some time to recharge the creative batteries, and develop, so as to not repeat myself.

"Sideshow" was born of a marathon of creativity that began way back when I started writing material for "Traction Control", and didn’t let up until the world ground to a halt at the beginning of 2020 (and even then, there were sparks of new ideas that would get jotted down).

With "Traction Control" released, and a slew of new tracks already written and recorded, yet still relatively in-keeping with the former stylistically, I deemed it wise to cobble together a short EP. Enter "Sideshow".

"Sideshow" is thus a kind of expansion to "Traction Control", albeit one that’s bigger and bolder than the former despite its limited running time. Not a completely new album, but not far off either.

In the midst of all the uncertainty that plagued humankind in 2020 and 2021, there was a great deal of opportunity. In this case, the opportunity to work with some of the best musicians and technicians in the industry - without compromises of any kind.

A minor collaboration between myself and Leo Margarit, who initially recorded drums to my demo recording of "A Matter of TIme", proved to be the catalyst that would kick the whole process off. Before long, Leo and I had gotten into the zone producing and mixing the tracks, with Leo bringing new life to the compositions with his work behind the skins.

The luck didn't stop there either - not wanting to skimp on the low-end, the project needed a dedicated bassist. Leo dropped his former war buddy Gustaf Hielm a line to check whether he'd be up for contributing bass to the release. As fate would have it, he had some time to spare and liked the music (which in itself was flattering enough).

The cherry on top was getting Jens Bogren to handle mastering duties. At last, the circle was complete.

While the above may appear to make "Sideshow" purely a vanity project, I was really out to inject external influences into the tracks, allowing them to breathe in a completely different way, and providing me with opportunities to re-appraise the arrangements and what was being played. It also made for a whole host of pleasant surprises during the course of recording.

Special thanks to Leo Margarit for putting so much time and passion into this project, going above and beyond the call of duty, and making this a frictionless experience. Not to mention amazing mind-reading abilities, always knowing exactly what I was after regarding drums and production on each track. Kudos to you man.

I'm a Stockholm based guitarist that, like many a teenager before me, picked up the guitar at the impressionable age of 14 after hearing one too many Iron Maiden songs.

For reasons unknown I formed an overnight obsession and started practicing guitar fanatically, cutting my teeth on old school Heavy Metal on a quarter size nylon string guitar with a cracked neck and too few functional frets.

vanyamerc.com