PUNK GLOBE: You’re a singer, songwriter, teacher… That’s so interesting! Please, tell us more  about yourself and the bands you’re collaborating with. Who is Merrick Wells? 

MERRICK: I am the oldest of twelve children and I arrived in Zaragoza, Spain, from the corner  of Kent in England via Glasgow, Liverpool and London. When I tell people about my working  life, it sounds a little fantastical. From national government and politics to healthcare, life  sciences, football and English teaching as just some of the highlights. I have always been a  singer but I have found the opportunities to develop that side of my life in Spain. I have recently  collaborated as a singer/songwriter with Javier Vargas and his Vargas Blues Band on their  latest album. Beside that I tour with Strenos Rock Band across Spain and have various other  projects and collaborations on the go.  

PUNK GLOBE: Do you remember the first song you ever wrote?  

MERRICK: Actually I do. It was a Sanctus hymn for a Eucharist which I wrote as part of my  music GCSE (general certificate of education) when I was 16. I did not start writing pop or rock  songs until I was in my late twenties. 

PUNK GLOBE: Just out of curiosity, have any of your students ever asked you to sing in class? 

MERRICK: Ha! Yes, although I often find myself singing absentmindedly anyway. As I often  say, you breathe, I sing. It is something I do almost without being aware that it is happening. It is  something that happens when I am at peace. That feeling others have when they are singing  along to the radio in the car on their own, happens to me all the time, even if there are people around.  

PUNK GLOBE: You have a special project now, the double album titled Stoner Night with the  very famous Vargas Blues Band. Punk Globe readers will be pleased to know all the details.  

MERRICK: It has been an honor to be invited to collaborate with Javier. We first met on  Valentine’s Day in 2020 on Planeta Disco with Tony Miranda on what was then Radio4G, now  Bom Radio. We got on well and he invited me to sing a couple of songs with his band that  evening in town. We started talking about the blues and originally considered doing a live album  of blues classics but the pandemic changed all of that. We started to collaborate on an album of  original material from our respective homes. Our thoughts on the current state of the world  inevitably became a driving force for the songs and then some of the lyrics were even written  while I was at an amusement park with my wife and daughter once we were allowed to leave  our houses and local regions once again. It all added to some of the surreal nature of what we  considered a reality in that window of madness. It was a careful and gradual process to find the  tone that hit the mark in some cases and in others, songs just spilled out in seconds. Writers  and artists talk of being a vessel as sometimes work comes through you rather than from you and that was a powerful feeling in the case of some of the tracks. I am immensely proud of the  result, songs that are powerful, with something to say, but not hectoring. The recording was  then done over the increasingly intense and barmy summer of 2022 in Kikos Studios in  Zaragoza. Javier coaxed a variety of sounds out of me in that booth. He would always hear  something different or a viable alternative to a line. I always think that having more takes to work  with, and more options is better than less, so much like the writing process, the recording sessions  were a joy. When he was recording his takes it was like having a front-row seat to a private  concert. Watching him find new sounds and structures on the neck of his guitar was fascinating,  and sometimes a song would change direction abruptly in a session and just as quickly we  would have a new structure or idea in the can. When Javier felt there was something extra the  track Looking For Rock needed in the backing vocals I had no hesitation in recommending a  singer in Zaragoza, Viki LaFuente, who I knew immediately would have the tone and texture of  voice he was looking for. The power in her voice was the cherry on top of the cake!  

PUNK GLOBE: Apart from being an amazing singer/songwriter, you’ve also participated in a  few movie projects directed by Sadie Duarte. Was it more difficult to write the soundtrack for  Maybe Someday, star as Mitch Foster in Blown Away (Enchufados), work as a DOP in The  Lights of Dawn or be part of The Phantoms band in Between Here and Gone?  

MERRICK: Writing a film soundtrack was always one of my dreams and Maybe Someday was a  fascinating challenge. A short film does not leave much space for sweeping musical themes so I  concentrated on making something that was a series of incidental riffs that would build to flourish as the principal theme as the film reached a conclusion. I had originally written something that was far more melodramatic but once I saw the footage, the performance of the  protagonist Amelia Rius was so playful and joyful that I felt it needed to be reflected in the music  too. The character had made a life-changing sacrifice but was still such a delight I felt the music  should reflect that journey. That felt like an insurmountable challenge before beginning, but  once underway, fell into place very naturally. I would love to do more work of that kind. I have  always had a love of cinema and have thoroughly enjoyed the small cameos I have performed  in front of the camera, as much as the various roles on set behind the camera. Difficult is not a word  that I feel can enter this conversation. It was a joy to be asked to work on the projects and a  pleasure to work in a team. Cinema is such a team exercise, and even on small-budget  productions, everything is achievable if there is a unit that can function together. It is no different  to being on stage, playing a sport or even the vast majority of work undertaken across the world.  No man is an island, and we thrive when we work together to achieve a common goal.