By: Delaney Gouveia

Merritt Cathers was born and raised in Middletown, Rhode Island. Growing up, he said he was “always drawn to music,” and would often drum along to songs in the backseat of the car. At age 14, he joined his school’s band, but didn’t enjoy it and quit soon after. However, his grandfather (a drummer) saw Merrit’s’ love for music. So, he gave Merritt a drum set for his birthday, wanting him to follow in his footsteps. Thus began Merritt’s love for drumming. Merritt is completely self-taught, and to learn the drums, he would listen to a song and isolate the drums in his head. Impressively, Merritt was able to distinguish between the sound of a hi-hat and a snare drum, and recreate what he heard on his own drum set. He learned solely through observation and trial-and-error. Starting out, his biggest inspiration was the band Twenty-One Pilots due to the fact that their drumming patterns are more bare bones. He started learning their basic drumming patterns, then slowly transitioned to faster and more aggressive music with prominent drums.

At age 15, Merritt briefly attended the “School of Rock,” where he was separated by age group and skill level to learn music and play with a group of other kids. He quit soon after joining due to the cliquey environment and the confining nature of the program, wanting to explore his own musical path. However, it was there that Merritt met Anthony, Aidan, and Derek, the respective guitarist, vocalist, and bassist of his first band, Never Coming Home. In Never Coming Home, Merritt mostly wrote his own drum lines, but would occasionally collaborate with bassist Aidan to write drum and guitar lines together. He was in this band for the latter part of his high school career, as well as the beginning high school, he says that it wasn’t too hard to balance school and music, as he was only a part of one band, and any gigs were booked far in advance. However, as college began and he made more friends in the music scene, he began drumming for several other bands. Gigs were often last minute commitments, so splitting his time became more difficult. In addition, Merritt felt he had outgrown the pop-punk genre. Although he still respects and acknowledges his roots in it, Merritt didn’t want to play or write that style of music anymore. He had to prioritize and decide where to spend his creative energy. So, in the spring of 2023, he left Never Coming Home.

Now, Merrit currently splits his time between 3 primary bands: Liminal Space, Superposition, and Sporting, all of which align with the music he feels drawn to now. Recently, he went on tour with Sporting, playing venues in Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. When asked about the experience, he said that it’s essentially gathering the bare essentials in a backpack, loading musical equipment in the car, and hitting the road. Although the experience was at times stressful, navigating traffic, playing dead or empty venues, or having to drive for over 24 hours straight, the tour was still rewarding. There was also a band traveling alongside them, which was a pleasant bonding experience.

As of now, Merritt is pursuing a degree in Textiles, Marketing, and Design at the University of Rhode Island. He says that “in a perfect world,” he would love to make music his sole career, but the rock music genre is less prominent in today’s world, so having a career in it isn’t easy. He would like to “find a way to be sustainable and successful through [his] passion,” and that is where fashion and music intersect for Merritt. He believes that music and merchandise go hand-in-hand, as artists make so little from streaming platforms like Spotify, who pay them a tiny fraction of the total revenue. Merritt believes that making and designing merchandise that people want to buy is “the most efficient way to be successful as a musician.” Growing up with both parents working in retail, he learned a lot secondhand about the clothing business, which has made him extremely conscious of the impact that clothing manufacturing has on the environment. He strives to be sustainable, and so having a formal education in textiles is helping him learn skills like cutting, sewing, and screen printing.

Merritt also helped his father, Jake, open a retail store in his hometown two years ago, called Man Overboard. Due to this, he was able to experience the retail business firsthand, getting an inside look at wholesale, ordering product, store layout, etc. Although the store is not his personal taste, he learned a lot from the experience. However, he and his father are currently discussing moving away from the preppier style so Merritt can create a new space. In this new store, he could create and sell affordably sustainable merchandise for local bands. Although he still needs to focus on school, Merritt’s end goal is to open this store and create a community through music and fashion.