Wave 1 is officially out, and I still can’t believe how far ME & The Robots has come. This isn’t the first time I’ve released an album, but it’s the first time anyone has truly cared. The support for this music, the aesthetic, and the devotion to something so mysterious has been overwhelming in the best way possible.
When I started ME & The Robots, the idea was simple: a service that consistently pushed out good music. It was a way of forcing songs to get finished instead of sitting unfinished forever. But instead of restricting creativity, it did the opposite—it encouraged even more writing and made me less precious about each track. That’s how Wave 1 happened. It never felt like an album that took years to craft and had to be wrapped up perfectly—it was just a wave of songs. Somehow, by a miracle, they ended up feeling cohesive and fitting together. There weren’t tons of discarded tracks—except for one—but nearly everything that was created made it out the door.
Structuring an album is something most people don’t think about, but it’s a fascinating process. How does one song flow into the next? Do you start with high-energy, fast-paced guitars, or do you ease listeners in? The two contenders for the opening track were “Like Godzilla” and “Don’t Grow Up (It’s a Trap!)”. The latter almost became track one because it jumps right into the action, but that meant “Like Godzilla” felt weird anywhere else. In the end, “Don’t Grow Up” became a midway checkpoint, kicking off the second half of the album.
I’ve always believed that every fun pop punk album needs a moment to breathe—a softer song that gives the listener a break before diving back in. For Wave 1, that song was “Simple Days.” It’s a track that makes you pause for a moment, almost like an encore, giving you a chance to rest before the final act.
Albums don’t get released the same way they used to. Gone are the days when a single dropped before the album, followed by more singles over the next couple of years. In 2024/2025, we live in a world where nearly every song is released one by one until—surprise—you’ve already heard the entire album. That model is great for streaming but takes away the excitement of a big album release moment. I wanted Wave 1 to find a balance between both worlds. Eight songs had already been released, so the challenge was writing enough new material to keep the album release special. That’s why, instead of just one track, six new songs dropped all at once (seven if you bought the CD). It was a way to blend the constant-release strategy of digital music with the excitement of a traditional album launch.
One of my longtime dreams was to create a digital booklet. They were popular when digital downloads first became a thing, and I always loved the idea of offering exclusive digital extras for fans who bought the album. The Wave 1 booklet was designed with mobile devices in mind, so fans won’t have to email it to themselves just to open it on a desktop like in the old days.
Wave 1 took a massive amount of work—maybe more than any other musical project I’ve ever done. From recording and structuring the album to finally making a physical CD, T-shirts, and a digital booklet, it was a huge undertaking. But the most rewarding part of it all? Seeing fans excited to receive it. I never thought ME & The Robots would reach this point, and it’s all because of you.
Thank you for being a part of this journey. Wave 1 is just the beginning.
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