Tag: Expectations of a Failed Equation

Reality Check – 310AM’s Nate Erickson Gets ‘Real to Reel’ on New Revelatory Single

Nate Erickson has released three singles since launching his 310AM solo project last fall.

310AM shows every relationship needs a serious reality check.

The Ypsilanti indie rock singer-songwriter and guitarist confronts this personal challenge in his latest kinetic, revelatory single, “Real to Reel,” which dropped last week via all streaming platforms.

While only two minutes long, “Real to Reel” hauntingly unites the frantic, glistening instrumentation of Two Door Cinema Club with the lush, lingering harmonies of Local Natives.

Vivacious, swift guitars, rolling drums and spirited bass propel 310AM, aka Nate Erickson, toward an overdue conversation, as he emotionally reflects, “The loose ends and disarray/Relay both fear and regret/You ask if you can stay/We both know the answer you’ll get.”

“To me, this song was a way to reflect on how separation can affect a relationship. ‘Real to Reel’ is one of those songs that just came out of nowhere. All the guitar parts and melodies came to me real quickly in a way that I find impossible to recreate intentionally. I hope people find it as cathartic to listen to as it was for me to write,” said Erickson, who wrote, recorded and mixed the track himself.

“Real to Reel” single artwork

Erickson also vividly depicts the succinct “Real to Reel” struggle through a refreshing Marian Obando animated video, which chronicles the relational scuffles of Millennials living in the city. Frustrated couples and friends navigate urban life and ride a double-decker bus in search of answers.

“I found her work through a band called Dead Rituals, and she did a music video for their song ‘Closer’ that I really enjoyed. I’ve wanted to do an animated video for a while, and some of my favorite music videos are animated – ‘Paranoid Android’ by Radiohead and ‘Open Passageways’ by All Them Witches. I reached out to Marian to see if she would be interested in working together and loved the ideas she had for the project,” he said.

As a newly-timed solo project, Erickson has released a trio of striking 310AM singles since November, including the dreamy, atmospheric guitar-driven track, “Paint Me Red,” and the escalating, divisionary anthem, “Expectations of a Failed Equation.”

In August, Erickson departed the indie rock trio After Hours Radio, which released two EPs, built a strong regional following and launched a well-respected, do-it-yourself (DIY) basement venue, The Late Station, in Ypsilanti.

Through 310AM, Erickson seamlessly combines Midwest indie rock with propulsive pop-punk emo sensibilities and seeks inspiration from Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance and Jimmy Eat World. His growing catalog of tracks also creates a sense of nostalgia for the emo-alt glory days of the early-2000s.

With a modern outlook on a nostalgic sound, Erickson continues to write and record new 310AM tracks and collaborate on demos with Mark Bosch, vocalist-guitarist for the Ann Arbor indie rock quartet Stop Watch.

“I have rough demos for four or five 310AM songs now that I would love to put together into a new EP this year. I feel that my writing is getting stronger with each track, and this next EP will take the 310AM sound in a really cool direction. Hopefully, I can use this time of isolation to make some progress on those,” Erickson said.

Math Rock – Nate Erickson Drops New 310AM Solo Track ‘Expectations of a Failed Equation’

Former After Hours Radio member Nate Erickson has launched a new indie rock solo project called 310AM.

A new 310AM track poetically proves not all problems have a right answer.

Written and recorded by Ypsilanti indie rock vocalist/guitarist Nate Erickson, “Expectations of a Failed Equation” explores the twists and turns personal relationships take when they’ve reached a breaking point. At times, the best solution may include moving forward without questioning why certain life chapters end.

“It’s one I held onto for a while and reworked bits and pieces for a couple of months before it ever got put into record format,” said Erickson, former lead vocalist and guitarist of the indie rock trio After Hours Radio. “I wasn’t really consciously thinking about where I wanted to take it lyrically. I think it ended up being the experiences of what my house situation and the band situation were like at the time.”

In August, Erickson and his After Hours Radio bandmates Greg Hughes and Mark Dunne ended their five-year run as one of Ypsilanti’s most notable do-it-yourself (DIY) bands. Together, they released two EPs, performed regularly throughout southeast Michigan and northwest Ohio and ran their own Ypsilanti-based DIY venue, The Late Station, to showcase emerging artists across a multitude of genres.

Earlier this year, After Hours Radio celebrated their five-year anniversary and briefly reunited with original lead singer Calum Galt for a special one-off performance. Together, Erickson and his bandmates decide to pursue their own solo projects instead of forging ahead.

“I think at the time we were still trying to make things work the best we could,” said Erickson, who co-founded After Hours Radio with Hughes at the University of Michigan in 2014. “This track is kind of like a what-if scenario, that’s how I wrote it, and things kind of went where they did.”

Expectations of a Failed Equation single artwork

Released today, Erickson’s 310AM debut track, “Expectations of a Failed Equation,” opens with slow progressive guitar chords channeling disappointment and wonder – “You can hear everything that I think/Even though I blocked you out of this place we live in/They say actions make stronger statements that complement apologies/Or all those good intentions you claim.”

“I went through a couple of different iterations once I started adding other instruments to it because either way I felt like the parts I was writing were either too dark or way too bright, and none of it felt right,” said Erickson, who’s inspired by pop-punk emo bands Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance and Jimmy Eat World. “I had to go through a couple of iterations until I felt like everything meshed.”

Halfway through the track, Erickson’s guitar erupts into a firestorm mixed with thunderous bass and drums to mirror the building frustration – “Never said I’m right/And I’m not sure what more to say here/I’m not sure where to be/What to say/Or how to play this to avoid giving life the futures I fear.”

“Everything on there is me, and when I was working on this, it was meant to be like a side project from After Hours Radio,” said Erickson, who played all the instruments on the track and mixed it himself. “I didn’t take it to a nice studio or anything. It was just seeing what would happen if I just let myself run with the ideas I had in my head.”

After the release of “Expectations of a Failed Equation,” Erickson plans to drop two other new tracks in the next three to six months and continues to mix and engineer projects for local indie bands Stop Watch, Any Island, Forest Warren and Tryancareagain.

“I would like to start playing out again. For 310AM, the solo project stuff, I don’t want to do it unless I get the right group of people together to make it work like the recording,” Erickson said. “If I can get that to happen, then I would love to, but I’m not necessarily pushing for it. I’m waiting for the right fit.”