Three willfully geeky guys from New Jersey who play pop-punk with speed, power, and a mighty smirk (which occasionally belies the fact they sometimes mean what they say), the Ergs (or, as they like to call themselves, "The Near-Sighted Three") came together in 2000, with Jeffrey Erg (Jeff Schroeck) on guitar and vocals, Joey Erg (Joe Keller) on bass, and Mikey Erg (Mike Yannich) on drums and lead vocals. The band wasted no time preserving their music for posterity, putting out two self-released CD-Rs in their first year as a band, but the group first attracted attention outside their peer group with the five-song Three Guys, Twelve Eyes EP, released by the Whoa Oh label in 2001. In a bid to raise their profile by being sued, the Ergs next issued The Ben Kweller EP in 2002. It borrowed the artwork from Kweller's disc EP Phone Home and featured a song poking less-than-charitable fun at the indie rock protégé. In 2003, the Ergs put out their first full-length album, Dorkrockcorkrod, which earned enthusiastic reviews in the punk press and spread word about the band outside of their home state. After an initial release on Whoa Oh, the album was picked up by Don Giovanni Records, which distributed the Ergs' next EP, 2005's Jersey's Best Prancers (whose title and artwork was a play on the 1997 Lifetime album). In 2006, the group was chosen to back Dave Parasite of The Parasites as he launched a tour to support a Parasites best-of CD, and they signed with Dirtnap Records, which scheduled the band's second full-length album, tentatively called Upstairs/Downstairs, for the spring of 2007. ~ Mark Deming