The Mercenaries are a rock band based in N.Y.C. They are altogether Steve Rutyna on vocals, guitar and harmonica; Alex Morales on lead guitar and vocals; Brian Elliott on bass; Mark Marone on drums and Neil Thomas on keyboards.
Their firs album, 2000's "How Sweet the Sound" features 13 songs including "The Come on Song", A Stonsey, bar room rocker wholly composed of pick-up lines; Replacements type rockers “Transient City” and “Storm Birds” and ballads in the vein of Bob Dylan and The Band “If I Stay All Night” and “All That I Need”.
Their second album, 2001's “The Last Resident in a Tourist Town” features 17 songs including the soulful rocker “What You Think and What I Know”, the country influenced “Both Sides of the Ditch”, Tom Waits style ballads “Falling Star” and Be Gone”, power drinking anthems “Done Days” and “Drivin' on E” and a horn driven song about child abuse “Brand New Dad”.
Their third album, 2002's “Outpatients on Patrol” is a double CD featuring 17 songs of beautiful melodies and poetic lyrics such as “Along the Shakespeare Row” and “The Ocean is the Rain”, which blend well with the more raunchy “Feed the Fire” and “You Can Take the Girl Out of the White Trash, But You Can't Take The White Trash Out of the Girl”.
Their forth album, 2003's “The Hanging Tree” features 14 songs blending their usual raw rock with a violin and mandolin to come up with a sound reminiscent of “The Pogues” and “The Waterboys from rowdy anthems “Out on the Town Tonight” , to the suicidal “Bury Me Back Home”.
Their fifth album, 2004's “5 
Hotel” features 12 songs and is their most diverse album, from the ballad “Barmaid”, reggae/dub “Everything's Harder than it Looks” to their usual brand of bar room rockers.
Their sixth album, 2005's “Listen, Look and Hooks” contains 11 songs of swaggering melodic anthems. “The Fortunate One” and “Down on the Tracks”, more like a choo choo train chasing after a defenseless little baby deer, while “Clocktower” and “No Voodoo, No Madman, No Preacher” achieve a grandiose gospel feel from female vocalists “The girls with the lungs that could put out a forest fire choir”.
The Mercenaries are a must for anyone with a brain and a heart. They kept their promise. Don't keep your distance.