Indie pop-punk band Lemuria’s debut album, “Get Better,” may be 10 years old, but it’s the band’s use of gut-wrenchingly honest lyrics to combat themes of hope and loss that make the album stand the test of time.
Lemuria will be playing at Loosey’s on Feb. 24 as part of its Get Better 10-Year Anniversary Tour. Gainesville fans will be able to hear the entirety of the album, as well as Philly indie pop-punk band Cayetana and Mikey Erg, of the band The Ergs!
Randy Reddell, a promoter for Loosey’s who helped set up the concert, recommends fans arrive early if they haven’t yet bought a ticket due to the show’s high demand.
“Concert-goers should just expect a really fun, positive, welcoming vibe from the venue and bands,” Reddell said. “It should be pretty packed with lots of sweaty singing and dancing.”
New Jersey native Mikey Erg, real name Mike Yannich, is an established punk-rocker whose resume includes a lengthy list of influential bands and artists that he has collaborated with, including The Ergs!, The Dopamines, Dirt Bike Annie, The LLC and Gainesville local Laura Jane Grace from Against Me!
“Laura got in touch with me and said we should hang out when I came through her town on tour; she then picked me up and immediately played me a couple of songs, and I played along on her daughter’s drum kit,” Erg said. “We ended up demoing four songs, a couple of which ultimately ended up on ‘Transgender Dysphoria Blues.’”
Erg said his old band, The Ergs!, had toured with Lemuria 10 years ago when “Get Better” had just been released and the members in Cayetana used to book Lemuria’s shows, so it was the component of playing with friends that has made this tour so enjoyable.
“This tour was rad because we all met up on day one and hugged each other and said, ‘Let’s have an adventure’,” Erg said. “It really was like meeting up with family to go on a road trip.”
Erg’s set will include songs from his recent solo album, “Tentative Decisions,” which consists of 11 songs that Erg said contain the general theme of reflection and looking back at past experiences in his life.
“The reaction has been really incredible, most shows have been packed and the audiences have been really warm,” Erg said. “I’ve also ended up seeing a lot of old friends that I haven’t seen the last couple of years I’ve come through towns, which has been my favorite part of this tour.”
Lemuria’s Alex Kerns (drummer/vocalist) and Sheena Ozzella (guitarist/vocalist) have worked together since the band’s 2004 origin, when a high school friendship formed out of their mutual love of punk rock. Kerns said that while they had a different bassist in the beginning, they met their current bassist, Max Gregor, who was a high-school student doing sound for one of their shows, and he ultimately became a part of their band.
“We’re not only best friends but we are family, we’ve been friends so long that we know how to disagree without arguing,” Kerns said. “For half of the band’s life we haven’t lived in the same time zone, but we still make sure to all get together and work on new songs and tour.”
Kerns, who had recently dealt with the loss of a loved one when “Get Better” was first released, said that replaying the album on tour has been refreshing.
“It’s nice to have the hard feelings of my past conveniently organized into songs,” Kerns said. “Music wasn’t only the outlet for my troubles, but also a cage for them.”
Unlike a lot of recent bands that have been going on anniversary tours to live off of the nostalgia of early-2000s punk, Lemuria is still producing quality music 10 years later. This includes a new album being released at the end of the year and a scene in a movie that drummer/vocalist Alex Kerns said is currently in production.
Kerns said that his hopes for this tour is that for anyone who takes the night off from studying or a couple who finds a babysitter to finally get a night out, that their show is something that helps them mentally escape from their daily stress and worry.
The 18-and-older show opens at 9 p.m., and tickets can be bought in advance from ticketfly.com for $12 or $14 at the door.
