Waxbuilt Castles

Vinyl LP pressing. Waxbuilt Castles is the second full-length solo album by New Jerseys Mikey Erg. As the drummer and principal songwriter in The Ergs! And at least a dozen other bands, Erg has as sturdy a set of pop-punk bona fides as you're likely to find. Waxbuilt Castles is a departure, though. Recorded in collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Alex Clute - who performed with Erg in The Chris Gethard Shows house band - it's a set of songs that takes it's central inspiration from the melodicism and craft of 70s pop rock. In their production and arrangement, the songs emulate Ergs pre-punk musical heroes - ELO, Elvis Costello, Phil Ochs, and especially the Beatles. I really wanted to make my version of Paul McCartneys first record, explains Erg. Homemade and very loose. Not too overthought. Getting there took a bit of adjustment on Ergs part. As a singer, he had to reconcile with hearing his voice in a quieter and more vulnerable context. It was funny to have to rethink the way I sang a lot of the songs, says Erg. Alex would say, You're singing too forcefully, calm it down a bit. I had to get used to hearing my voice without this white noise behind it, masking it. Lyrically, though, it's a Mikey Erg record through and through. They're the same type of songs that I've been writing forever - about relationships. Juts simple, personal songs, says Erg. That's the through line, I feel. No matter what the record sounds like, it's the same exact songs that I've been doing. It's the thing that I'm most proud of. That I can make a different sounding record, but that it still goes together. That is can all fit in the same box.