Tom Reno’s kids have no clue about the contingent of music nerds who’ve lost their minds over a reissue of a record he released 16 years ago.
“The kids know we have a band, but they’re largely unaware of anyone caring about it beyond the four adults that they know,” Reno, who plays guitar in The Mercury Program, told CL. The band emerged out of Gainesville to put Florida instrumental rock on the map with its 2001 EP, All the Suits Began To Fall Off. To Reno, Suits was the first Mercury Program album where the writing process was unrelated to any influences, which at the time included lots of Warp and Hefty Records material and Prefuse 73.
“We were just making music. That was where we found us,” he said. A year later, a specific slice of the world would find the four-piece built by Reno, drummer Dave Lebleu and brothers Whit and Sander Travisano, who played Rhodes and bass, respectively. Suits earned a 7.9 score from famously nitpicky website Pitchfork, and its follow-up — the eight-track, 47-minute A Data Learn the Language — completely abandoned vocals. Instead, the band leaned on a rich, relatively novel take on guitar-based drum and rhythm music that was rich in texture, colored with the slightest touch of electronics and marked by just enough Rhodes and vibraphone to remind listeners that the pristine sounds they were hearing were, indeed, made by humans.
“We were just trying to make the most interesting music for us,” Reno said. “What else can we do with these instruments? That’s my memory of where we were.”
To many, A Data Learn the Language was perfect. It changed the listening habits of many young, still-developing music fans, and the record sent The Mercury Program all the way to Japan a year later.
On Friday, Lovitt Records — an indie label that released The Mercury Program’s last two records, New Myths (2016) and Chez Viking (2009) — will reissue Data as a gatefold double-LP that’s been remastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service. Weston’s touch is all over American underground rock from the post-punk era, and he’s produced bands like Shellac and Mission of Burma while also documenting early appearances by then-unknown bands like the Pixies, Blake Babies and Sebadoh as part of his job at the University of Lowell’s campus radio station. Reno says Weston was able to strip out things that shouldn’t be there that most listeners weren’t going to hear anyway.
“Just clutter, frequency-wise. I’ve only heard test pressings at this point, and they sound great. I think it sounds the best that the record has ever sounded,” he said.
The reissue couldn’t have come at a better time, either. The initial press of Data was handled by Counterflow Records, which went bankrupt after the album’s release. Reno said that the label claimed to have pressed 1000 copies — some with a drop-in 7-inch — but he’s only seen 100 of the records himself and none with the drop-in. The band was never able to make contact with the label after it shut down, and the shortage of copies has made A Data Learn the Language a piece that goes for hundreds of dollars on Discogs, an online marketplace and database for vinyl lovers.
“The prices are ridiculous. It’s kind of flattering, but it also seems silly,” Reno said.
“I’m glad that the reissue is out there. People can enjoy the record without having to spend that. It certainly takes away from some of the cult status and the mystique of having this really rare record, but that first pressing is still that rare.”
What’s even greater is that The Mercury Program is taking Data back out on the road in support of the reissue. A nine-date tour kicks off on November 8 at Crowbar, just blocks away from an Ybor City venue that was near and dear to Reno’s heart.
“I am so bummed that we can’t do it at New World Brewery,” Reno said. The band used to play long-defunct DIY spot 403 Chaos in the late ‘90s, and Reno went to the University of South Florida, so he has many fond memories of the area. He expects to see many old friends at Crowbar when The Mercury Program plays two 50-minute sets: one featuring material from Suits, Chez Viking, New Myths and even a 2003 EP, Confines of Heat, the other just Data front-to-back. He’s also learned — from shows two years ago and online chatter — that there’ll be a new generation of fans at the show.
“We just assumed that it would be a lot of people who knew of us before, but then you show up and there’s somebody who is 22, and you’re like ‘Wow, you were five or six years old when this record came out,’” Reno said. A fan from Canada is flying down for the shows, and he’s shared videos of his kids dancing to Mercury Program songs.
“That’s been a surprise to us.”
It shouldn’t be. By his admission, even Reno’s own kids listen to The Mercury Program from time to time, and they can actually pick it out from other instrumental music. It’s a testament to what The Mercury Program built 16 years ago, and Data even stands the test of time for Reno, who says that “it doesn’t feel like I’m playing very outdated music, so that feels good.” In a perfect world, the band’s family and work circumstances will allow it to get back to Japan and the west coast to do the reissue justice. What happens afterwards remains to be seen, but he would like to make another record that is as well-received and impactful as Data was for some people.
“It’s a hard feat to top or even repeat,” Reno admits. For now, he’s focusing on the shows, pinching himself every now and then and appreciating how special Tampa is to the The Mercury Program.
“That we can show up all these years and have people still be into it is shocking,” Reno said. “You look at it and think, ‘Is this real?’”
The Mercury Program w/Unwed Sailor. Thurs. Nov. 8, 8 p.m. $12-$15. Crowbar, 1812 N. 17th St., Ybor City. aespresents.com.
This article appears in Nov 1-8, 2018.