The Ernies - Here and Now

Rap and rock. Like chalk and cheese, or night and day, sometimes you just have to smash two things together and take a big old bite to figure out how good it’s going to be. I have a feeling I may have mixed my metaphors up a little bit here. The particularly late 90s and early 2000s held a special containment area for the vast majority of the crossover genre for those not inclined, but boy was it a good time if you liked your raps riffed over and your riffs rapped over. 

Barring a short-lived reunion in 2013, The Ernies are very much a band that belong to that specific period for their popular years, but were knocking around for a good while prior. Formed in 1994 as a ska-focused seven-piece, the band dropped the pure pick-it-ups of their 1995 self-titled for a more shotgun arrangement of genres – pack as many in as possible, because one of them is going to hit. They got their big break touring for their second album and snagged a major record deal with Mojo, releasing their third and final album Meson Ray in 1999 and proceeding to blow up in the short term after; finding themselves in a good handful of advertising spots, feature films and, of course, the original Tony Hawk Pro Skater, whose soundtrack to this day remains unparalleled in scope and trumpets. 

So, if you’ve got a dusty pair of Vans shoes kicking around (not a sponsor, I’m just a big ska-head), pop those bad boys on and start boarding at your nearest convenience to the sounds of “Here and Now”, our tubular Rock Song of the Week pick (what do you mean, kids aren’t still saying that? What year is it?) Whether this is a song you can listen to without hearing various grinding and shattering glass sound effects from the aforementioned Tony Hawk Pro Skater game tells me exactly how cool you are; if you remember it from a CSI: Miami advert from over two decades ago, I might suggest seeking external help of some sort.