MIKEY ERG

MIKEY ERG

You seem like someone who has loved music since birth. Do you recall any significant moments or experiences in your childhood that led you down the musical path? At what age did you recognize music as a passion? What were your earliest favorites - songs, bands, styles of music?

Yeah, according to my parents I pretty much came out of the womb drumming and singing. I know that when I was very young, probably around 2 or 3, we’d go to my grandparents house and I would immediately scream “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” signaling that I wanted to listen to my mom’s old Beatle records. We’d also listen to American Top 40 on the way and I’d commit to memory the songs I liked and we’d buy the singles and LP’s at the mall. My first favorite band was definitely the Beatles. I know I owned Thriller, Born In The USA, Purple Rain and She’s So Unusual at a very young age, sometimes multiple copies so those were very early favorites. I’m told I partially taught myself how to read by scouring the lyric sheets and liner notes to those records.

When did you first pick up an instrument, and how did you learn to play it? What inspired you to write your first song, and do you recall what that first song was? When you were starting, were there certain bands or styles you sought to emulate or use as a template for your own songwriting?

My dad was a drummer in a pretty popular cover band in New Jersey and also owned a recording studio so I was alway around instruments, particularly drums. I would bang on drums at the studio whenever I possibly could. Eventually it kinda sounded halfway decent. I’ve never had formal lessons. Growing up in a recording studio, I always had access to recording gear. My dad gifted me an old Teac 4 track reel to reel that the studio wasn’t using anymore and even before I could properly play I was making 4 track recordings of me playing drums, strumming a guitar (before I even knew chords, haha), and singing nonsense. I had a lot of these “songs” but they were honestly just noise.

Did you play in bands or record songs prior to The Ergs!? Were there people early on who encouraged you to pursue music as an outlet? Who were you showing your earliest songs to for feedback? When did you begin do develop confidence in your own songwriting?

I joined my first band around 8th grade. We were a classic rock and blues cover band pretty much. It was me and a bunch of older High School kids. We’d play various school functions and had fun. Around that time I started getting into punk rock and that was when I started trying my hand at writing actual songs. The major influences were Green Day and stuff like that. The three Ergs actually started playing together in a band called The Flatliners in High School. The first songs I wrote for that band were pretty bad generic pop punk but I was learning the craft. I remember writing them and not thinking they were very good but if we wanted to play live we needed some songs so fuck it. haha. The first song I wrote that I considered to actually be “good” was a song called More Vocal In The Monitor. It was the first song I wrote where I thought to myself “I would actually listen to this song”. That ended up on the first Ergs EP “f’n”, in fact, that version is the actual demo I made immediately after writing it.

When The Ergs! formed, did you guys have any particular musical goals at the outset? The band is credited as having carried the pop punk sound towards a more individualistic and creative path - which is a notable achievement in itself considering how traditional and by-the-book many bands in the genre were. How conscious were you of developing this unique sound?

We didn’t really have any goals in the beginning except for to have fun and to take a break from practicing when the Simpsons was on. We always kinda had it in our heads that we wanted to play whatever we felt like. Why not throw a jazz or country part or song into the set? We like jazz and country! It definitely wasn’t a discussion, you know “we have to be different” or whatever. We just figured let’s have fun and play whatever the hell we feel like playing.

Another notable feature of The Ergs! catalog is the variety of flavors and aesthetics that evolved with each release. Is there a certain album that you're most proud of from The Ergs!'s discography? Do you see dorkrockcorkrod as the quintessential or milestone album as many fans do? How often do you revisit those albums, and how do you feel when you listen to them now?

Yeah, I mean dorkrock is certainly the favorite and I think the reason that is is we didn’t really think about it. It was like, “ok, lets make an album, thats what bands do right?” There was really no over thinking it. There’s a certain honesty in that and I think people can hear that. I think my personal favorite is Upstairs/Downstairs. That one feels like more of an “album” to me, like a statement of a time and place. It’s also way closer to what we actually sounded like as a band than dorkrock was. The goal for that one was tour out and record it in the middle of the tour so we’d be tight and fast and live! I think it really captures everything that The Ergs! were. I pull em out every once in a while and they’re fun listens. We were a fun little band.

You were at the forefront of a very strong scene in New York that seemed to be pushing the boundaries of the pop punk genre into an even more independent style that didn't adhere to the same old "chucks, leather jacket" aesthetic that many still associate with it. As a community, were the bands all rooting for each other? Did your songwriting benefit as a result of collaborating with and befriending so many other talented local songwriters during those years?

I feel it was a very close scene, we played with each other constantly and it definitely felt really special. I’ve never thought about it that way but I’m sure I subconsciously fed off of being around so much music and so many people that I loved.

What was your take on the Pop Punk Message Bored as a resource and a community? What do you think the Insub Fest did in terms of solidifying the scene of the 2000's? Do you feel connected to that scene today? You have always seemed very approachable and easy-going, but there's alway been a fair amount of negativity associated with message board culture in general and I wonder if you felt that you had a specific role to play within it?

I do think the bored and Insub was a great thing. It really was a tight community and Insub Fest was something we always looked very forward to every year. I met so many friends through that community that I’m still tight with to this day. It was so cool to see it grow from the first year at a very small club into this massive multi-room thing. As a musician, you always knew your best show of the year was going to be at Insub.

You're known as someone who has participated in and collaborated with more artists and bands than most can count or keep track of at this point. Do you have a list written down somewhere? If asked to produce a comprehensive list of every release you've played on, or every band you've played with as a live member - could you? And what motivates this ongoing "all in" approach to music? Does it ever become exhausting or stressful to be involved with so many projects? Has your songwriting benefited from these experiences?

I haven’t kept a list and I REALLY regret it. I’m sure anytime I’d try to list it all I’d forget a bunch of stuff. It’s always funny when I’m at a show and I hear a song on the house system and say to myself “this song is super familiar, what is it?, oh yeah it’s For Science, I played bass on this record” haha. I made a decision pretty early on that I just wanted to be playing music every waking moment of the day, practicing, shows whatever. So I pretty much just joined any band that would have me. I was just so eager to play. It sometimes was exhausting to schedule it all but I had a lot of very patient bandmates and it usually all worked out. By the time I was really active in a ton of bands I wasn’t really writing as much and I think thats what I needed/wanted. After the Ergs I kinda wanted to not be the songwriter for a while.

Your solo album seemed to be a personal milestone, and the songs were great as expected. Do you consider that one to hold special significance to you? The name "Mikey Erg" has by now taken on its own distinct place in the community separate from The Ergs!. How do you feel about the evolution of your music career? Are there unexplored avenues that you'd like to pursue?

Yeah, of everything I’ve ever done, Tentative Decisions is by far the thing I’m most proud of. It’s the only thing in my discography that I wouldn’t change a single note of. I think the next record I’m gonna do is gonna be kinda modeled on “McCartney”, Paul McCartney’s first solo album. I wanna do something where I just record and mix and play everything myself. I think it’ll be a pretty mellow poppy thing. It’s something I’ve never done before really so I’d like to try that.

Your lifestyle seems to be a nomadic one, and I've always wondered how you sustain youself - both in the material sense but also emotionally/mentally. Do you find enough stability in your daily life to feel sane? How disruptive and difficult has it been to constantly tour and live on the road under what I imagine to be often unideal circumstances? Do you envision yourself "settling down" to a more domestic lifestyle at any point in the near future? What would your ideal lifestyle include that you're not currently getting?

It’s funny, once you’ve been on the road as much as I have you really tend to get used to it. It just kinda feels natural to me at this point. I’ve actually gotten the chance to have the best of both worlds the last couple years because my job on the Chris Gethard show keeps me home for a few months of the year.

The Hamiltons is a great project with great songs, and one that has interested me in particular because it's a direct nod to a style of pop punk that The Ergs! specifically weren't. Who conceived of this band and what has motivated its continued activity? Both releases so far are great! I think you achieve a humor and irreverence that is truly rare, plus the songs are very memorable and catchy.

It was just one of those ideas we had for years, like let’s do a three chord ramonescore band about the movie Dirty Work. It actually became a reality when, we had just been playing so many Ergs shows cause we’d been doing a lot of shows for our friends that had hooked us up on tour. For one of the shows I was like “we can’t play ANOTHER ergs show” and I think I wrote 4 of the songs that night. I showed em to Joe and he wrote the other two, throw in a Ramones cover or 2 and bam, you have a set. It was a fun little exercise to just restrict myself to that style of songwriting.

You're 100% capable on all rock instruments, but you're usually performing alongside other musicians on stage and recordings. Do you prefer to work with other musicians in studio rather than just recording everything yourself? What do you enjoy most about collaborating? Do you feel that you learn more as a songwriter through these experiences of working with other artists?

I feel it’s always great to be able to bounce ideas off of someone else. There’s always something you’re not thinking of. Every Ergs song would have been totally different if it were other people playing them. Tentative Decisions would have been a COMPLETELY different record if Jeff Rosenstock and Lou Hanman weren’t involved. The songs were there but there’s just these little nuances that happen when you play with other people that kinda make the songs. Someone suggests an idea and you’re like “can you do that?, yeah of course you can do that!, why didn’t I think of that?” It’s also great to kinda immediately hear what the song sounds like as a rock song as opposed to just sitting in your living room playing it acoustically.

I've always been interested to know who your favorite songwriters are - could you name some of your all-time favorites? Have you received positive feedback from any of these favorites? Also, what does your family think of your music career? Are they supportive and proud of what you've accomplished so far?

Well speaking strictly about songwriting, John Lennon and Paul McCartney of course. Elvis Costello is a huge influence, as is Andy Partridge of XTC. Joe Jackson, Paul Westerberg, Joni Mitchell, Brian Wilson, Emmit Rhodes, Juliana Hatfield. I mean we could be here all night but they’re all huge for me, just to name a few. Yeah, my folks have always been pretty supportive and proud even if they didn’t really understand why I was doing all of this stuff for little to no money. Getting a job on TV didn’t hurt. Haha.

What does the future hold for you as a songwriter and musician? Are there any specific goals or accomplishments you've yet to check off the "bucket list"? Reflecting on your career so far, what are you proudest of in terms of experiences and also in terms of output? Is there a song or set of songs that you feel proudest of?

There are a couple studios I’d love to work in. Hoping to at least get something mastered at Abbey Road just to see the inside of the building! That’s probably my biggest bucket list item. I’m proud of everything I’ve gotten to do really. Traveling the world and getting to see a bunch of places I’ve only dreamed or read about because I wrote a couple dumb songs in my bedroom is a pretty amazing feat. As I said before, Tentative Decisions is the thing I’m most proud of, I only hope I can surpass that. We shall see!