Rising band ME. stopped by the hive for a chat about their upcoming album, All Good Things, and the first two singles that just dropped. Per usual, we welcomed Eddie, Mike, and Mark with open arms! Although we love showering our readers with interviews featuring their faves, we always make time to highlight rising musicians and bands who are on the heels of their debut album. In this case, that’s ME. Get to know this amazing rock band and let us know what you thought about their music at the end!
Welcome to the hive! To get us started, please introduce yourself to our readers by sharing with them why they should be ME. fans.
Eddie: Hi, I’m Ed. I love me, and you should love me too.
Mark: We’re ME. A group of people, not just the musicians, but a group of people who found each other at the right time for the right reasons. We make music that says the things a lot of us struggle to say out loud. If you’ve ever felt like you’re rebuilding your life, trying to become a better version of yourself, or just looking for something real in a world that feels increasingly fake, I think you’ll find a piece of yourself somewhere on this record.
Mike: Hi, I’m Mike Jansen. I’m the singer and rhythm guitar player for the band ME. I don’t think I can convince anybody in an article to be a fan of my music. I just think if they listen to it, they will resonate with it. It’s honest. It’s written from the perspective of someone who has seen a lot of life. Beautiful and terrible things. It’s reflective, but touches on the anxieties and complexity of complacency while finding your place in the world.
Now that we know a little bit more about you, let’s talk music. What is your music story?
Eddie: You’ve got time for 30+ years of history; in a nutshell, I’ve been doing hardcore and punk rock for a long, long time. I’ve been playing since I was a teen in the Long Island punk rock & post-hardcore scenes.
Mark: Obviously, Eddie and I have decades of history together. We grew up making music, toured the world together, and those experiences shaped who we are as musicians. That will always be part of my story, and I’m grateful for it, but honestly, this feels like the best chapter yet. ME. wasn’t supposed to become a band. It started with Eddie and me writing songs together again after a lot of years and a lot of life happening. We didn’t have some grand plan. We just wanted to make music that felt honest again. Casey is so much more than a manager. She is a major part of the origin story, and this record would not exist without her. She was a fan before she was anything else. She kept telling us she missed the sound Eddie and I made together and believed there were still songs left for us to write. More importantly, she created an environment where we could just be creative again. She fought to protect that process and reminded us why we fell in love with making music in the first place. Then she came up with the idea for the “Sing to ME.” contest. We thought we’d find a few vocalists to feature on our instrumentals. Instead, we found Mike. When he walked into the studio, it was obvious these songs had finally found the voice they’d been waiting for. Neal came in and helped shape what this band would become, and suddenly what started as two old friends rediscovering their love for making music turned into something much bigger than any of us expected. That’s really the story of ME. It wasn’t manufactured or put together by a label. It happened because one fan believed in the music enough to bring the right people together. The rest happened naturally.
Mike: I grew up in a musical family. My dad, mom, uncle, great uncle, and grandpa are all talented musically. I started Drumline in fifth grade, but was kicked out of band in seventh grade for not being able to read music fast enough. I wanted to sing, but never made it through a choir tryout. I started playing guitar when I was 15. My first band practiced in my parents’ house, and they told us we needed to find somewhere else to play unless we found a new singer. So I started singing. They didn’t have the heart to tell me I was worse than the other guy. I guess that’s where it started. I played in a band called 1994 from Atlanta, American Science from Tallahassee, and Mighty Fox from Chicago. Each project had its ups and downs, but they are mostly fond memories. I definitely lived on the less successful side of being a musician. 11 years ago, while juggling bartending and playing cover gigs, I decided to go full-time with the cover gigs. I played in late-night bars until I could get the happy hour gigs. I play brunches. I play in hotel lobbies, golf courses, bar mitzvahs, and weddings. It’s given me the chance to work on music by myself pretty much all day every day. I consider myself very lucky to make a living in music at all. I started recording songs under the name Milo Minor after COVID. I would and still do demo out songs at home in my music room and then record them in Atlanta with my Buddy TJ and Big Trouble in Little 5 Points. About a year ago, I got married. I started writing a new batch of songs for that project when I came across a vocal submission project from ME. So at that point, it was kind of just doing what I was already doing but over somebody else’s instrumentals. The guys really liked what I was working on and slowly, but eventually, I became the singer of the band entirely. Now we’re about to release a record that I’m extremely proud of.
It happened because one fan believed in the music enough to bring the right people together.
Mark stated
What are three adjectives to describe your sound?
Eddie: Emotional, honest, and passionate.
Mark: Honest. Cinematic. Unapologetic.
Mike: Honest, vivid, and passionate.
Your debut album, All Good Things, drops on July 24. What messages are you hoping come through on this record?
Eddie: That you can take a piece of the music and make it into your own story.
Mark: At its core, this record is about what comes after survival. It’s about growing up without losing yourself, accepting the parts of your story you’d rather forget, and realizing it’s never too late to start over. We hope people hear these songs and feel understood. None of us have perfect stories, and we didn’t want to make a perfect record. We wanted to make a truthful one.
Mike: Most of the album is a collection of personal journal entries set to emotional tolls inspired by song structures presented by Mark and Eddie.
We can’t wait to hear the album in full, but for now we’re still streaming the second single, ‘Grown Man‘, which tells a story about falling in love and how scary and exhilarating that feeling can be. When did you know that this was a song that had to be written and shared with the world?
Eddie: The idea came to me when I overheard my daughter singing in her room, and it inspired me to write a lot of what I had heard. As soon as I heard Mike put his lyrics on it, I knew it was going to be a special song because it was the exact melody I heard in my head. You know things are right; it’s just meant to be.
Mark: Almost immediately. ‘Grown Man’ is about letting your guard down after you’ve spent years convincing yourself you needed those walls to survive. Falling in love isn’t just exciting. It forces you to confront the parts of yourself you’ve been hiding behind. We knew a lot of people would recognize themselves in that feeling, even if their story looks different than ours.
Mike: I know Mark and Eddie had a strong connection to the instrumental they had written when the song was presented to me. But they sent it to me before I’d ever met them, and I wrote the vocals before meeting them as well. I didn’t show them this song right away. It was one of many ideas I was excited to show them. But this one definitely grabbed their attention. So for all of us, ‘Grown Man’ was kind of the moment where they started to look at me as more than just a guy singing one song on an album they have and potentially as the singer of the project.
As we prepare for the release of All Good Things, we’d love to know: are there any songs in particular on this record that stood out to you after you wrote them? If so, which ones are they?
Eddie: I think all the songs equally have a special place in my head and in my heart, so it’s hard to decide.
Mark: ‘Sun Poison’ surprised all of us. On the surface it feels bright, colorful, and almost fun, but underneath it’s really asking why we’re constantly sold shortcuts to happiness instead of being encouraged to do the hard work of healing and growing. That contrast became one of the defining themes of the album. But the one that’s probably closest to my heart is ‘This Is What It Feels Like To Be Normal.’ After a long and difficult fight to get more time with my daughter, one night we were sitting on the couch together with Casey. Aisha fell asleep in my arms, and it was one of the first times in years that we’d been able to share a quiet moment like that. I remember thinking, “Oh… this is what it feels like to be normal.” I grabbed my phone, opened GarageBand, and within about thirty minutes the entire idea was there. Those songs don’t come around very often. Sometimes they just show up, and your only job is to get out of the way and capture them before they’re gone. It ended up being the very first song I wrote for All Good Things, and somehow it also became the perfect song to close the record. After everything this album explores—love, loss, healing, and learning to live again—it ends by asking a simple question: what does “normal” actually feel like after everything you’ve been through? That song means a whole lot to me.
Mike: I know it’s cliché, but all of them. I’m extremely proud of every song on this record. It’s pretty exciting to have an album where songs like ‘Nuzzo’ and ‘Big Smiles’ can live in the same space.
In what ways are you bending the genre of rock music in your new album? How do you hope fans will see your growth in the new project?
Eddie: I’m not looking to change the genre necessarily. I was already fortunate to be a part of creating a new genre with the Long Island hardcore scene. I’m sticking to who I am and how I write. There’s so much great music out there that doesn’t need to be changed. I’ve been able to grow by being given the freedom to write and play how I want to in the studio.
Mark: We never sat down and said, “Let’s reinvent rock.” We just followed the songs wherever they wanted to go. Some lean into melody, some get heavier, and some are more vulnerable than people might expect. That said, we also weren’t afraid to make a real rock record. Loud guitars. Loud drums. Imperfect moments. Things that hit hard. A lot of modern rock feels so polished that it forgets what made rock ‘n’ roll exciting in the first place. We wanted the energy, the grit, the imperfections, and the feeling that anything could happen. That’s the stuff we grew up loving, and we think there’s room for more of it. We weren’t interested in fitting into one lane. We wanted to make an album that felt human. As far as growth goes, we’re not trying to prove anything. We’re writing from a completely different place than we were twenty-five years ago. When Eddie and I made Tell All Your Friends, there was a freedom that came from simply creating without overthinking. Over the years, that creative environment changed, and so did the way we were able to write. One of the greatest gifts of making ME. has been getting that freedom back. Casey fought to give Eddie and me the space to trust our instincts again, and we pulled from every influence we’ve ever loved to create something that feels both familiar and fresh. Life changes you. Good music should, too.
Mike: I’m not trying to do anything. I am, however, excited to be playing with musicians that all seem to have a different root of passion in music. We’re not all trying to be the same thing, but it works really well together.
We wanted the energy, the grit, the imperfections, and the feeling that anything could happen.
Mark stated
From once being the former members of Taking Back Sunday to now being ME., what has this transition taught you all, and how are you hoping these lessons carry on into future albums?
Eddie: I look at life as a ladder; each band I’ve been a part of was a step. TBS was one step, and ME. is the next step forward. Being in my fifties, I’ve learned enough lessons. I just want to play music and have fun with my friends and family. That’s the lesson I want from all of this.
Mark: Every experience teaches you something if you’re willing to listen. We’re grateful for every chapter that’s brought us here, but ME. isn’t about looking backward. It’s about building something healthy, creative, and lasting with people who genuinely want to make music together. The biggest lesson is that authenticity always wins. The more honest we are (with ourselves and with each other), the better the music becomes. That’s something we want to carry into every record we make.
Thanks for chatting with us! But before we wrap up, are there any final words you’d like to share with our readers and your fans?
Eddie: Let’s just all support each other and keep this music genre and lifestyle alive so future generations can keep it going.
Mark: Just thank you. There are so many ways people can spend their time, and the fact that anyone chooses to spend it listening to our music means everything to us. We hope All Good Things gives you something to come back to when you need it. This is only the beginning for ME., and we can’t wait for everyone to hear the full record on July 24.
Mike: I’m just really excited to put this album out, and I can’t wait to see how it relates to different people in their lives. Sharing art this vulnerable is about creating those connections.
Shoutout to ME. for chatting with us and delivering some amazing bangers! You can pre-save All Good Things here and get ready to catch Eddie, Mark, and Mike perform live July 23 at Amityville Music Hall in Amityville, NY (tickets here!). After that, we’d love to know—have you heard ME.’s songs before, or did we introduce you to this incredible group? Let us know! You can find us in the comments below or on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram!
Find more of your favorite new music here, honeybee!
