OLD BRIDGE- Nearly 10 years ago, an album came out by a group of guys from New Jersey that set the bar for an often disregarded genre of music.

For a lot of music fans, The Ergs were and remain relatively unknown.

But for a rabid group of pop punk fans, The Ergs and their album, Dorkrockcorkrod, remains a classic of teenage heartbreak (the first line: "I'm in love, I'm in trouble), consistently ranked as one of the best albums of the genre.

But for Old Bridge native Mikey Erg (real name: Mike Yannich), the album's success wasn't a given. Yannich and fellow bandmates and Old Bridge High School alumni Joey Erg (Joe Keller) and Jeffrey Erg (Jeff Schroeck) would hand out CD-R's of their music and play shows to almost no one.

"We played four or five years to no one," Yannich said.

So expectations weren't high.

"I remember recording Dorkrock and thinking, 'no one cares, let's just get it on tape,'" Yannich said. "'Whatever, who knows?' We'd handed out CDR copies to people."

The now 31-year-old remembers the turning point. Yannich said the band would arrive for shows, begin to set up, and turn around to huge crowds. Even more impressive, they were singing every word to every song.

"We were in Gainsvillle one night for Fest 4," Yannich said. "We're getting ready at the club and we turn around and there's at least 1,000 people in there, for us. We thought, well, 'this might be cool.'"

It's something that still happens to Yannich, as evidenced by his solo show with Kepi Ghoulie (of Groovie Ghoulies fame) and Kevin Seconds (of 7 Seconds fame) at Asbury Lanes Sunday.

And he still thinks it's pretty cool.

Yannich credits the local scene on do-it-yourself basement shows that have been happening in New Brunswick since the early days of the Bouncing Souls.

"If we didn't start playing shows in New Brunswick, we would have been nothing," Yannich said.

Although nearly five years from the final sold out Ergs show at Asbury Lanes (not including the 2010 and 2011 reunion shows), Yannich hasn't been looking for work.

At this point, it might be easier to list the bands Yannich isn't in. His resume includes the Dopamines, House Boat, The Slow Death, Worriers, Pity Party, the Unlovables, Now People, and Pale Angels.

His latest project, Pale Angels, released their debut album "Primal Play" today.

He's also still working on songs for a solo album, one he intends to record with a full band and one many punk fans have been waiting for ever since The Ergs broke up.

"There's a lot of pressure," Yannich said. "It's not necessarily coming from others. I'm putting it on myself."

Yannich was even mentioned in a Punknews.org petition to name him the new drummer of Against Me!, a commercially successful punk band.

And since seemingly everyone in the punk community has Yannich's number, evidenced by the number of bands he plays in, lead singer Laura Jane Grace contacted him for a session in March.

Grace, formerly Tom Gabel, made waves when she came out as transgender in 2012 and transitioned to living as a woman, a move that was applauded by the punk community, including Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem and Brendan Kelly of The Lawrence Arms.

The sessions didn't go as well as they should have, Yannich said.

"My head shut down," Yannich said. "I couldn't talk, I couldn't say something to this hero of mine. I kept thinking, 'how am I here right now?'"

When he's not playing or driving to or from a performance, Yannich is listening to music, which is why he took the closing down of Maxwell's in Hoboken personally.

"That was the biggest heartbreak," Yannich said. "I remember for us, for The Ergs, it was always about getting to play Maxwells. And we did. We headlined a show at Maxwells and it sold out. That was huge for us."

Yannich listed Superdrag, Clem Snide (who opened for Jonathan Richman), and Dan Bryk as three of his favorite shows, out of the hundreds he's seen at the now closed Maxwells.

Although he now lives in Astoria, NY, Yannich still has a place in his heart for Jersey and its venues, including Club Bene in South Amboy.

"The area I grew up in, central Jersey, it's my home," Yannich said. "No matter where I am, it's always my home."