"Hey, you wanna start a band?" Drinking Mercury began with this question one faraway day back at Ionia Middle School, when a young Tommy McCord (guitar) asked Kevin Adams (drums) to jam with him after jazz band.

Things didn't take off right away. As most bands do, (especially bands formed in middle school) Drinking Mercury had an awkward adolescence full of seven-string guitars and half-baked stylistic mishmashes. As McCord describes it, they were writing songs that sounded like, "if you take everything that makes The Cars good, and removed it, then added lyrics written by a 14-year-old who isn't sure if he wants to sing like Robert Smith or Billy Corgan, and can't do either."

Most band dudes have funny, self-deprecating stories like this one about their first band. Most band dudes, however, aren't still in that first band. 10 years after that jazz band conversation, McCord and Adams are still quietly plugging away with Drinking Mercury. Through the years they've played some shows, released a few scattered EPs. They've even added a few members, like Michael Boyes on vocals/guitar/ukulele and Timmy "Corncob" Rodriguez on bass, though the band remains true to its original ethos.

"Basically, we always just played whatever we felt like," McCord said.

The proof is with members' extended breaks for other musical projects: Boyes also plays in Josh David & the Dream Jeans and the Hunky Newcomers, Rodriguez fronts The Break-Ups, and McCord plays in multiple Lansing-based bands. Local-music scenesters have probably at least seen him playing guitar in The Plurals. Even with an array of other active bands, Drinking Mercury would always reconvene to jam or play the occasional show.

Though they weren't as productive as their other musical endeavors, they saw no reason to put the project to bed.

"We've always had really good chemistry," Boyes said.

That's evident on their new (and first) full-length album, 2011's Orcades. The bad Cars impersonations are long gone and in their place are dreamy soundscapes, catchy indie rock, Sonic Youth-style guitar attacks and even some singer-songwriterisms, often all piled into the same song.

The band is very proud of the new disc, despite their trademark Midwestern humility.

"Eight years into it, we kind of figured it all out!" McCord said.

So where do the band members see themselves in the next 10 years? That's an easy one, according to Michael Boyes.

"As long as I'm able to still play music, I'm going to be playing music with these guys."

ALBUM REVIEW: Drinking Mercury, Orcades (Good Time Gang) Man, there's somethin' to be said for just lettin' it fly. How many bands out there just get together in the jam room and kick it with no expectations other than havin' a good time with their pals? Oh sure, every band in the world says they do this. Nobody wants it to be known just how calculated and full of artifice this rock ‘n' roll game really is — Bono wasn't born wearin' those shades. So when you stumble upon a band that seems to just genuinely play for the pure enjoyment of making a big loud noise with their guitars (and sometimes a quiet little noise), it's pretty refreshing. On their first full-length (only took ‘em 10 years!) Orcades, Lansing's own Drinking Mercury blow through a whole smorgasbord of styles without ever falling into "name that riff" territory. Sometimes it's big Sonic Youth-y guitar wailing, sometimes it's sensitive Dylan-esque singer-songwritery hoedowns. Heck, they even dabble with a little funk — probably the album's only failed experiment, if you ask me. Mostly they throw it all in the blender, toss it at the wall, and see what sticks. If other folks dig it, good for them. I get the feeling Drinking Mercury would rock in front of three drunken hobos down at the local waterin' hole for the rest of their lives and be fine with that. They play music because they like it, and because they have to. Even though it's not a record full of big choruses and pop hooks, Orcades is a grower with some truly fantastic tunes on it. Well worth checking out.