Mikey Erg announces new album, shares "Clueless Or Cruel?"

Mikey Erg continues to be one of the busiest musicians in punk, and this year is no exception. Not only did his classic band The Ergs! recently announce a rare tour celebrating the 15th anniversary of dorkrockcorkrod (and a slot at Riot Fest), Mikey just announced a new solo album. It’s the followup to his great 2016 solo debut Tentative Decisions and it’s called Waxbuilt Castles and due July 27 via Don Giovanni. Mikey recorded it with multi-instrumentalist Alex Clute, who he’s played with in The Chris Gethard Show‘s house band, and Mikey says this one is an ode to some of his pre-punk influences. “I really wanted to make my version of Paul McCartney’s first record,” he says. “Homemade and very loose. Not too overthought.”

The first single is “Clueless Or Cruel?”, and you can definitely hear the less punk and not too overthought approach, but it’s not a million miles away from his last album. It’s still a super catchy dose of driving power pop that fans of anything from Mikey’s past work to Elvis Costello should check out. Listen below.

As mentioned, The Ergs’ tour hits NYC on November 15 at Brooklyn Bazaar with Big Eyes and Dark Thoughts (tickets) and NJ’s House of Independents on December 7 (tickets). All dates here. Mikey is also playing The Fest.

Tracklist
Kimberly Gofigure
Bad Decision Monday
Clueless or Cruel?
And Nico
Little Crushes
Waxbuilt Castles
Hopland Superette
Why Was I Programmed to Feel Pain?
City Lettings
Somewhere Drinking, Drinking Somewhere