Born on Eastern Kulin land, Naarm in 1976. A Leo Dragon, raised on Pub Rock in E StK while going to school in Yaluk-Ut Weelam country. As time passed, I grew attached to music, listening to landmark albums throughout my schooldays. My first instrument was a Casio keyboard used for recording one of my first songs in 1990 with guitarist Hussey in the backyard of the flat rented by my Father and Step-Mother. Our first gig as a duo came the following year at Hearts Bar in Nicholson Street, Fitzroy, during which we played our original compositions live in front of a handful of friends who were assembled around three jugs of ale. Known originally as "Fire" the songwriting credits;

Words: L.B. Armstrong
Music: M.A. Hussey-Smith

Would be the most regular credits until I picked up a guitar and started playing in December '91, upon receiving a red Fender Stratocaster copy as a Christmas present. In 1992, we added a new member to the band, Richard Cosway, on keyboards and guitar and played a gig at The Intrepid Fox in Clarendon Street, South Melbourne. At the performance, we debuted the song "Darkness" of which Richard had written the music, to my lyrics about unrequited love and teen angst. In the same year, I penned one of my first riffs to a song with similar themes of high-school rejection, with Richard on piano. The chord progression was lifted and recycled 29 years later, by the master singer/songwriter Paul Kelly for his song, "Usman Khawaja" leaving me flattered, honoured, and gobsmacked all at the same time. By 1993, I was in year 11 at University High School, Parkville and learning Bob Dylan and Neil Young songs to play at parties. I happened upon the chords to Pink Floyd's "Welcome To The Machine" & The Knack's "My Sharona". To my surprise, alot of the rock music I was listening to was easy to play on guitar. In my final year of high school I had become comfortable with the habit of writing lyrics in class, leading to teacher frustration and very poor marks in every subject except Literature and Theatre Studies. I was very keen on Acting at this time - as a former child actor who appeared in TV shows and the 1988 movie "Celia" - and my turn as Oberon from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" wowed the three person judging panel at my final Theatre Studies exam, earning a (181/182) mark. In March 1995, we rebranded as "Wild Mercury" taken from a quote by Bob Dylan which stated "When I first heard the electric guitar it was a kind of wild Mercury sound." Hussey liked the name, because Queen was his all-time favourite band and their lead singer was named Freddie Mercury, so it stuck. Richie left the band after one final jam in Yarraford Avenue, Fairfield. Carrying his keyboard around on public transport got old, and he persued a career in Hospitality. In March of '95 Hussey and I entered a battle of the bands in Doncaster, in Melbourne's outer-east, but came last as I broke a string and couldn't play my ditty "The Eternal Circle", which was a buzz to write and play, with its finger-picking intro. As the possibility of attending my beloved Melbourne University eluded me, I turned instead to SAE (School of Audio Engineering) in Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, where I took the Advanced Diploma of Audio Engineering course. As a lad of 18.5 years in a class of mainly 20-somethings, I struggled to keep up with the pace of the course, and my poor study techniques and habits from 4 months earlier plagued me. Upon botching a demo tape I was trying to record for a great new band, "Middle Earth", I questioned what I was doing in a recording studio and when trying in vein to understand electronic schematics and equations I decided to drop out. I continued writing lyrics and music throughout '95 & '96 until Hussey had his first child and I was institutionalized. On 19.11.13 I completed a Certificate 1 in Comprehensive Writing at The Writing School. Since then I have worked as a Journalist for AFL Victoria and Flemington Kensington News.
💜

Followers of Hussey