A Case for Hatching: My Eulogy for Egg Punk Explained

………..Who cares ? I 100% agree, who the fuck should care about this ? This is stuff from a past life that I hardly think about. I am only reminded of it when someone annoying brings it up to me or occasionally down a rabbit hole I'll encounter the music. I usually can't make it through even one song.

My friend's new record prompted me to reflect on it all once more. See I love his record but upon releasing the first single yesterday I thought, "I am gonna scream if anyone calls this egg punk." It has similar characteristics — a sinister sounding twerp singer who recorded an album by himself, with fast punk drumming, keyboards, and vocal FX. Sound familiar ? The difference to me is that there is real intention in this record, that this is personal and refined.

This is something that I have never gotten from E-Punk. And this got me thinking... I want this album to be contextualized as Post-Egg. From there I wrote the Eulogy. Then came the angry texts. There's so much I want to clarify so I will just address this at length here now. This will be the first and last time. It has never seemed worth it to step on anyone's toes because it matters very little to me what kind of music others play and who likes it. I am hesitant to put negativity out into the world, but I know my intentions are good and I do this in the spirit of constructive criticism. I'm not trying to bully anyone, play any "cooler than thou" card, I don't mean to be petty or pretentious. I just want to open a line of communication about all this and to externalize some thoughts I have that might be useful to some of these people if they ever decide to listen to me. My intention is that this be a productive conversation that helps accelerate artistic growth. I know it has worked for me.

I can't substantiate the outward power of art and music but wouldn't life be so depressing without them? It's hard to speculate on what the hell I would even be doing otherwise. Is it ignorant that I really love rock n roll? I just love the way I feel when I listen to it. Isn't that the beauty of art and music, it makes us feel? And think? When I hear E-Punk, I do not get these effects. It is as vapid as contemporary Christian music. I feel nothing. And all I think is "this all sounds the same."

So back to "who cares?" Why should I care if a bunch of people make music I think is boring ? If it makes people happy, isn't it a good thing ? I wouldn't bat an eye if I wasn't implicated in it all. Through no fault of my own, I am part of this story. Sadly, this trivial bullshit is one of the only things I can actually comment on confidently and with real credibility. I am the accidental insider. Which is why I feel comfortable enough to criticize it publicly.

It sounds to me like these people are just not trying very hard. I put a lot of time and thought into writing music and I feel like I can tell when others do too. In the past couple years I've developed a basic process that has really helped me get better results. It's so simple I just can't believe I barely did this in the 2010s. My secret is to make multiple drafts of a song in the demo phase, until I get something I'm happy with or at least something with notable improvements. Sometimes it can takes years. You record a demo, it's not very good, you put it in a folder, maybe you come back to it in a month, sometimes eight months, sometimes never. But I think spending time with a song during the writing process is how you arrive at something more refined. A revelation for me was this shitty little demo I made in 2021 on a dysfunctional 4 track. I was messing around, recorded this little thing with a Casio drum beat and a few guitar tracks. I didn't love the result so it just sat there on a tape for a whole year. I came back to it and was able to make some lyrics I liked and it became "The Times." I re-recorded it in a studio a couple months later with a few modifications, and the result was stunning. In a year's time it went from a shitty demo that was never supposed to be anything to one of the best things I've ever written. 

Looking back I really wish I had started doing this earlier. Practically everything I recorded last decade was the first draft. There were no revisions. I was able to get by with it for a bit but I think the quality took a dive when I started making longer format releases, namely the first two Dumpers 12"s. I think a few songs on each of them have held up just fine but I really wish I had tried harder. I think I'd be more proud of them if I had.

So when I say to the E-Punks, "Think longer, Try harder, and Be better," what I mean is "Learn from my mistakes, Spend more time on your songs." And to me that means shedding the template. Adding tools to your toolbox. Trying different things. Not using the same trick over and over and over again, which is what makes the whole thing so goddamn boring. There is a wonderland to explore outside your little shell, all you have to do is let yourself hatch. 

Have you heard of the band R.M.F.C. ? In the beginning I heard the early releases and I was not moved by them, just like the rest of the newly christened E-Punk coming out pre pandemic. Some years went by, and I had an opinion that kept getting validated. But then I heard Buzz's first full length in 2023, in which he explicitly tried to distance himself from his previous material and the whole E-Punk scene. And you know what, I finally came around. I could feel the growth. The music was actually doing it for me. I came to love the record and I now consider it a modern classic and the perfect example of someone shedding the template and moving on and creating something more intentional and thought out than before. Our little egg had finally hatched.

I have nothing personal against anybody who likes or plays this kind of music. My aim is not to create drama, simply to help you hatch faster. If anybody wants to talk about songwriting or wants music recommendations, please get in touch, I am keeping the lines open for any little Eggies who wanna talk. If I get even one of these kids to start listening to Red Krayola's first record, then all this exhausting reflection and responding to angry texts about this stupid ass topic will have been worth it.

Blair of Snooper told me yesterday, "There's a lot more serious stuff going on." I wholeheartedly agree. Things are dire and serious and to me that means it is not the right time to be making music without intention. We all have a lot to think about and a lot to say right now and I think it's appropriate to translate this energy into something actually compelling.

With Peace and Love,

Martin

2-20-25