SB Origin Stories: Jack Merry

We have another fan submission, hurrah! It's my absolute pleasure to introduce another SB Family member to our SB Origin Stories series today. Jack is a legend, and one of the earliest members of the group. I met Jack and his partner, Nicola, at the Leeds gig last year. Both lovely people, I'm looking forward to meeting them again this November!

As with Paul's, this is an unusual story, and a very personal one too. It's always heartwarming to hear how the music affects people's lives, especially in stories as powerful as this. Thanks for sharing such a personal journey, Jack. It's very much appreciated!

Jack's Story

I run pubs for a living, and one day I woke up on the floor of a pub I ran, with my manager putting me in the recovery position. Went to the docs and was initially told it was a stomach ulcer but a week later got a call saying it was stomach cancer. This was in December 2020.

Luckily it was caught early and I had an operation to remove it in March 2021. The op went well, to make myself feel better I told myself it was free weight loss surgery. LOL.

Around this time I was told to listen to The Skinner Brothers by a mate of my son and along came Iconic, Culture Non-Stop and Put Me Down as a Maybe.

I quickly bought into The Skinner Brothers passion. To cut a long story short when I was at my lowest and sort of had “survivors guilt” out came Soul Boy II. I played it all day everyday - it helped me when I was at my lowest.

I got another pub to run and played the album, used Mountain High at team meetings. I then hit the back catalogue. I found myself laughing, crying and feeling energetic as I was blown away with the vocal range and different styles of music Zac had put out perfecting his art, never standing still.

I am proud to say I own all the singles / E.P. and albums on vinyl (I don’t have a record player), all the merch. Apart from one t-shirt that I missed out on - the Iconic t-shirt which my gig mate Damian reminds me of now and again.

I often went to London for gigs then Manchester, Leeds a few times, even Glasgow with my better half Nicola. I was met like an old friend by the band and Claira. One of the main things I feel is that meeting lots of the family at gigs, regardless of age, no judgement etc is making me a better stronger person.

I love all the “new music” as it’s opening me up to more parties. Never thought I would get into Indie music though! I just call it music.

Music brings us all together.

All credit for this post and the images within (apart from the last two, shot by The Buzzard), belongs to Jack Merry.

If you have your own story of how you first came across The Skinner Brothers and would like to share it with us, we'd love to hear it! Please take a look at our submissions page and get in contact using the button below.