The Marked Men - Ghosts

The Marked Men are from Denton, in the delightful Republic of Texas. They play the garage punk that the kids enjoy very much in this day and age. They are decent, in my mind sort of a garage-ier Figgs if they covered Chixdiggit's Van Horne a bunch of times in a row. Ghosts has grown on me a bunch. I really didn't care for it the first time, but I bet I'd like them a lot more a couple beers in at Dan's Silverleaf. 

Three-quarters of these Marked Men used to be in The Reds, before one of their members left and moved to Japan. They say lightning never strikes twice, but damn if it isn't happening again. The Denton/Japan commute seems like it's going to be cost-prohibitive, so it would appear this may be one of the last chances you're going to get to get some Marked Men in your life. When it hits, like on Ditch or Red Light Rumors, it's a pretty damn good thing. You can definitely see why John Reis released their stuff on Swami. See what you think. You can hear some tracks at their social networking interface here. If you decide you'd like the home version of our game, you can pick Ghosts up here from the kids at Dirtnap.

R

The Ergs - Hindsight Is 20/20, My Friend vol 1

Man, just when I was beginning to think something was happening around these parts, the whole thing starts going down the shitter. Hunchback announced their break-up today, it looks like Short Attention's days might be numbered, and perhaps the saddest of all, the Ergs are calling it a day.

Hindsight Is 20/20, My Friend is a collection of b-sides and comp tracks that was in the works well before the gents announced that they were hanging it up. As a comp of an active band, it's great, but as a posthumous epitaph it's really kind of depressing. Not because it sucks, but because they were great and they were local. I saw them a handful of times and always had a great time. I still hope to see one of their last shows, but am glad that I didn't try to see the D4 show last week, as I hear the stage collapsed four songs in. I'm not sure how it went from collapsing during The Ergs set to supporting the sultans of svelte that are Dillinger 4, but things in Brooklyn work in strange and mysterious ways.

But I digress. So there's a gang of great stuff on Hindsight: stuff from the Lemuria split, stuff from that mp3 they released on 3.5 diskette, the 3 EyesEP stuff and a gang of others that are better than your shitty band's best stuff. Pick up Hindsight Is 20/20, My Friend from Ken at Dirtnap here. Check out the Ergs web presence here for word on their final shows and start counting the days before the reunion shows.

R

Psyched To Die demo | R.I.P: The Ergs!

Brian posted on PopPunkBored that there was yet another Mikey Erg affiliated project afoot, this one called Psyched To Die. The band is sort of a Monsters Of NJ Pop-Punk franchise, with Jay Insult from Hunchback and Brian from For Science rounding out the recording line-up here. The P.T.D. Myspace notates the enigmatic (Felix?) Frump in the line-up on second guitar, as well. There are four songs on the demo. It's available on cd-r and and cassette for all you old schoolers and finds Jay and Mike splitting vocal duties, sometimes even in the same song. It's raw, but well-recorded (at Asbury Lanes, oddly enough). While they are a new band, P.T.D. have old school tendencies deeper than their name (a Deep Wound homage). They come off a little Flag-gy, with shouted vocals and pounding drums that will no doubt have the kids circle pitting all around New Jersey. With recent changes in The Ergs! world, I wonder if this may become a full-time proposition.

As I was accessing the Interwebs to get my journalistic ducks in a row about P.T.D., I came upon the first of many postings regarding The Ergs! formally announcing their break-up. There had been rumblings for a while, all of which were quickly dispelled, so I figured that given the huge amount of shows they had been playing it was all internet shit-talking. Evidently this is not so. It appears that Jeff is leaving the band. Check out the link HERE to get the word straight from the horse's mouth. They are still playing a bunch of shows before their demise, including the Dillinger Four record release party in Brooklyn on 10/14, before wrapping things up in the middle of November in their home state of New Jersey.  It appears there will be a final 7" release, as well. In the interim, get the DirtNap comp of odds and sods called Hindsight Is 20/20. It's allegedly to be released on Dirtnap, but I can't find any notice on their site. I'll keep you posted. 

R

Psyched To Die diespace

The Ergs! Myspace

The Ergs! webpage