The Jersey Interchange project -- which (mostly) features NJ punk musicians covering other NJ punk musicians -- continues today with Shawn McGovern (The Youth Ahead), Heath Saraceno (Midtown, Senses Fail), and Jersey Interchange leader Christian Lesperance taking on The Ergs! classic "Everything Falls Apart (And More)” from 2004's dorkrockcorkrod. Heath says:

First off, I love The Ergs!, so when Christian asked me to play the guitar solo on this song I was stoked! We wanted to put together something fun that sticks close to the spirit of the original. Christian recorded the guitars and programmed the drums at his house and then sent me the file so I could obsess over the guitar solo for somewhere around 4-6 weeks. I added some guitar odds and ends, 4 tracks of pick slides, and a little drum loop to round out the music. Then, when the bass player we had lined up fell through due to equipment issues (sorry Matt!) I recorded the bass line. Shawn took on vocal duties and handed in an awesome vocal track.
We’ve been recording the songs for Jersey Interchange in our homes, mostly on GarageBand, which is a free program that anyone with an Apple computer or iPhone has access to. The situation with Covid-19 has made it impossible to put this type of a project together the old fashioned way, which is a bunch of people in a room, figuring it out together.
Luckily, we now have this technology, and for the past few months we have also had time on our side. Christian has been putting in a ton of effort organizing the songs, arranging the singers and extra musicians, and actually recording the bulk of the music. He has so much information pertaining to this project that he has to use a detailed spreadsheet to keep track of everything - I’ve seen it and it is impressive.

Shawn adds:

Recording The Ergs! song was a freakin blast! When Christian asked me to be a part of this I jumped at the opportunity! Mikey (Erg) and I are from the same town so it was even more meaningful to share something with a fellow Old Bridge punk!
I whipped out my microphone and hooked into GarageBand for the very first time. It was actually a nice call from the universe because seeing how easy the home recording process has become. It inspired me to take on some songs I had written but not done anything with up to this point. Christian does an amazing job with Jersey Interchange and I was honored to be a part of it.

And Christian concludes:

The process of working with Shawn and Heath on the song was so smooth. They both are extremely talented individuals and were really excited to be a part of this track. Shawn’s vocal abilities are immense, and I think he’s actually gotten even better at singing since fronting The Youth Ahead, who were a huge pop-punk draw in the NJ scene during their time. Heath is one of the best musicians I know, and it’s no surprise he’s my go-to dude when I need help formulating an arrangement or topping off a tune with his amazing melodic shredding. Nick Afflitto also did a masterful job mixing the song, and really bringing out all of the layers to let it shine.

The trio stay faithful to the original, and they do it a ton of justice. Hear it for yourself below.

Mikey Erg himself was recently featured in this series covering Atom and His Package's "Punk Rock Academy" alongside Paulson's Alex Burton. Chris Gethard did a Weston cover for it. Check out some of the other previous installments here.

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