Mikey Erg Releases Highly Anticipated Album 'Tentative Decisions'

Mikey Erg has played in a LOT of bands. Many fans of DIY punk rock and basement shows will know him from his namesake band, The Ergs, but he's contributed to countless projects. After accompanying so many artists on their music, Mikey Erg is releasing his first true solo effort, Tentative Decisions, set to drop June 24 via Don Giovanni Records. The debut track, "Comme Si About Me," premiered today on A.V. Club.

Though they started as a project by a bunch of high school kids from New Jersey, The Ergs went on to be a nationally recognized and beloved punk band. After they disbanded in 2008, Mikey Erg (keeping the moniker earned while playing in The Ergs) went on to contribute to numerous projects: he's played in, toured with, and performed on records with Dirt Bike Annie, The Unlovables, The Dopamines, Star fing Hipsters, House Boat, and Worriers, even sitting in with Weston at their recent reunion shows. He also played drums in the house band for The Chris Gethard Show, a weirdo, fringe late night TV show hosted by fellow Don Giovanni Records alum Chris Gethard. Between all those projects, Mikey Erg has also fostered a Billy Bragg-style solo project, where he performs with just a mic and an electric guitar, all over the world.

Having played on so many other people's records, Tentative Decisions is the first true Mikey Erg solo effort. It's also the first album of original material he's released since the Ergs' Upstairs/ Downstairs, released nearly ten years ago. Debut track "Comme Si About Me" is a perfect snippet of what fans can expect from this album: the familiar, second-generation Ramones worship is intact, but there are moments that touch on almost Celtic and British folk influences which act to refine the blaring down-stroked power chords and driving mid-tempo pop punk drum patterns.