#116 - Jared Hart

We have some New Jersey love for this one! Jared Hart of Mercy Union and formerly of The Scandals joins the pod in episode No. 116. There are some incredible stories about Hart growing up in the punk scene of NJ. Hart has been hooked on punk since hearing Rancid in the school yard at a young age. It continued throughout his time going to the Asbury Lanes and some of New Jersey's punk venues. Music eventually opened up his world. He was finally able to see the world being in a band, something Hart never thought he would be able to do. He also made valuable friendships which he still holds close to him to this day. Jersey is often considered a "B market" when people plan tours with New York and Philly surrounding the state, but a bunch of the great bands are here (for example Bouncing Souls, Gaslight Anthem, and The Front Bottoms). Hart talks about bands around him growing up and how they paved the way for his ability to tour and continue to write songs. Some awesome bands mentioned in this episode and Jared has incredible stories from when he was breaking into the scene. In the words of Hart: "Everyone knows a band is from Jersey, no one is hiding it." We also go into some deep subjects like watching his best friends leave bands and music as whole, and trying to keep the passion for writing through all of that. Hart says music is the only thing he is comfortable doing and the only thing he ever wanted to do. We also hear about Scandals stories, a band that accomplished so much, and never truly had a formal ending - but Hart says he was burnt out from playing the songs (leaves the door open for a show sometime down the road). We close out this episode talking about his current project, Mercy Union, and what they are currently working on. Mercy Union's Bandcamp: https://mercy-union.bandcamp.com/ Mercy Union's Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/08eGPyS005nVx8IRjCCCpz?si=IOnSiDOPQPeH73WSv7l8pQ Mercy Union's Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/mercy-union/1420541275 Mercy Union's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mercyunion/?hl=en Mercy Union's Twitter:https://twitter.com/mercyunionband Jared Hart's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jhart201/?hl=en Jared Hart's Twiier: https://twitter.com/J_Hart201?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor The Scandals Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/213HSYK6tyTn72h49m1Jen?si=oqK6YhYWQkm9s3H1nT3GWw The Scandals Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/the-scandals/126394537