In June 2005, Billboard's Christie Eliezer felt their debut album showed "electric rock-, classical- and jazz-influenced pop [that] appealed to Australian radio programmers".

Three of the founding members of Thirsty Merc—Matthew Baker, Karl Robertson, and Phil Stack—had played together in various bands in Dubbo, a regional New South Wales city.

[7][8] In October 2006 Thistlethwayte described his jazz and R&B background to MusicFix and the band's sound as "rock Sinatra" where "[t]he outlook, I guess, is about being a young person in today's society ... being an Australian in an American-ised, Britain-ised kind of world, where you're trying to stay true to yourself".

[9] A car accident on 22 September 2015 at Streatham, Victoria during a Thirsty Merc tour killed the band's stage manager and injured drummer Mick Skelton.

[12] It was issued in April 2004 and The Age's Andrew Murfett declared that "this bitter tirade wrapped in melodic hooks has become one of the biggest local radio successes of the year".

dB Magazine's Kelly Parish observed "[e]ven though the band's sound is predominantly rock, it has been influenced by more traditional flavours ... they have developed a very wide audience which embraces both the alternative and mainstream camps".

[19] In June 2005 Billboard's Christie Eliezer felt the album showed "eclectic rock-, classical- and jazz-influenced pop [that] appealed to Australian radio programmers".

[17][19] In June they supported Evermore on a tour of New Zealand, showcasing their "unique blend of pop rock dance-able balladry".

The band's main songwriter, Thistlethwayte, inadvertently wrote a "break-up album", which The Sydney Morning Herald's Brett Winterford noted was unusual, "that the articulate and intelligent 27-year-old has strung together 12 such stock-standard, radio-friendly songs about broken hearts".

It's also great to get that knowledge of theory, an understanding of the geeky side of music" and writing advertising jingles had showed him how to "do a lot of things in differing genres and recording styles—but had to try to be authentic about it".

[29] On 18 June 2010 Thirsty Merc released their third album, Mousetrap Heart, which was recorded mostly in Los Angeles with Matt Wallace co-producing, while two tracks were produced in Melbourne with Gravina.

[31] Bernard Zuel of The Sydney Morning Herald opined that "we buy, or actively avoid, songs that excite a response in us but radio wants songs that fit in, that don't provoke strong responses, that offend the fewest people ... this [album] is a collection of extremely professional, well-considered, carefully targeted songs whose key performance indicators are ticked off one by one in a manner so efficient you suspect band meetings must have an agenda, notes secretary and double-cream biscuits for elevenses".

Its music video was directed by Adrian Van de Velde and was shot in early October in Bangkok, Thailand.

[31][33] In November Lip Magazine's Shannon Andreucci reviewed a live gig, "[they] are certainly no Pixies, Beatles or Sex Pistols.

In fact they are perfectly happy and capable of playing within the parameters of radio friendly and commercially safe pop rock.

[34] On 30 May 2022 Thirsty Merc announced on their official instagram page they will release their next studio album, Celebration, on 17 June 2022.

Other confirmed songs include Who Listens To The Radio, That’s When I Think of You, Bad Habits and The Seekers's 1966 hit Hey There, Georgy Girl.