The Ergs! – That’s It… Bye!

The Ergs! were one of the premier pop-punk bands around. Re-invigorating the style and sound that bands like The Ramones and Screeching Weasel personified, The Ergs! were this generation’s underground phenomenon. Nasally, quick, quirky, fast, energetic, fun, catchy. These were all terms that could describe the quick three-chord pop-punk of The Ergs! and with each passing release and intense tour they become more recognized and more revered.

Then they decided to break up.

It was a blow to pop-punk fans the world over. Luckily for those aforementioned fans, The Ergs! didn’t leave them standing there empty handed. Despite deciding to call it a day, they still went into the studio and spat out three infectious, high energy tunes for one last release: a twelve inch single That’s It… Bye! – a record that works as a nice farewell from the band to the fans.

Clocking in at just over six and a half minutes, That’s It… Bye! is over as quickly as it began but they use those six minutes to their advantage. Kicking it off with Anthem For A New Amanda, The Ergs! waste no time is showing their fans that they still have it in them. Catchy, three-chord pop-punk at its finest split up with an organ infused bridge, Anthem For A New Amanda is one of the band’s strongest songs sinceJersey’s Best Prancers – and that’s saying something.

It then immediately jumps into … And The True Believers. The shortest song of the bunch, True Believers is built on a steady power chord and insanely memorable pre-chorus/chorus that instantly gets implanted into your memory. They round off the single with Piltdown Man on the b-side. This time Jeff Schroeck takes over vocals duties given the song a different feel and vibe than the preceding two. It has a slightly darker sense to it, with a more distinct guitar tone that ripples through the speakers. They leave the topics of girls and lost love behind on the track and instead take a tongue-in-cheek look at the Piltdown Man hoax and is carefully backed up by some carefully placed “woahs” to bring the full pop-punk sensation to the forefront.

At just over six and a half minutes, That’s It… Bye does end sooner than one would hope. But in that time they give their fans everything they could want with three quirky, fun, fast and catchy Screeching Weasel style pop-punk tunes; and there’s no better farewell than that.