Erectus Monotone recorded four 7"s for Merge between 1990 and 1992 with Jerry Kee at Duck Kee Studios in Raleigh. It was a small house, so it was necessary for the instruments to be scattered throughout. The drum set was in the living room, guitar amps in the dining room and bathroom (if you happened to turn off the bathroom light, it would cut the amp off), and the bass amp was in Jerry's bedroom. Jerry himself was generous and easygoing, despite the fact that he drank iced tea by the gallon.

On most of our Merge recordings, Kevin Collins sang lead and played guitar, Andy Freeburn played guitar as well as sang lead vocals on some songs, and Jennifer (Walker) Barwick played bass guitar and contributed occasional vocals. We had four different drummers over the years. Each changed the sound and dynamic of the band, but the overall aesthetic and chemistry remained. William Lee, aka "Casper," played on the first two 7" recordings, Vertigogo and Cathode Gumshoe. On the El Cid split, Mike Meadows appeared on "Fragment" and Brian Walsby played on the Erectus/Polvo jam, "Anything's Fine." The Glider/Soul Taker 7" featured Brian Quast on drums.

Our first 7-song demo was recorded shortly after the formation of the band in 1989, and three of those songs were chosen for our first 7" release on Merge, Vertigogo, in 1990. At the time, most of us were new to playing our instruments. Kevin had sung in Subculture (a hardcore band from Winston-Salem) and Raleigh's Days Of, and had only recently picked up guitar. Jennifer could play "Jane Says" on guitar which was enough qualification to play bass, borrowing Wayne Taylor's Hagstrom. Casper was also new to drumming, which resulted in a unique style that has yet to be duplicated. Andy was the only one with instrument experience, having met Mel Bay and John Lennon at the crossroads in 1984. After brief stints gigging with Rampage, Sweet Evil, and Forbidden Saint, he moved to Raleigh in 1987, picked up a $50 sparkle-blue "Matador" and borrowed Wwax's gray spray-painted Peavey. We were all just figuring it out together.

In 1991, Merge released our 5-song EP, Cathode Gumshoe. Our friend Chris Schneider wrote the lyrics to "The Day the Sharks Flew," and we'd finally like to thank him now (sorry Chris, our bad). The El Cid 7" from 1992 featured "Fragment" which was taken from our only non-Merge release called Erector Set. Most of the lyrics are from Tennyson's poem "The Eagle," but Sooyoung Park wrote the "looks askance" part.

By the time we released Glider, we were finally beginning to master our instruments and make sense of it all. Things were coming together musically, but not long after our full-length Close Up came out in 1993, we disbanded.

We all had the same goal: to play short, sweet, discordant pop with no guitar solos. Of course, a few solos snuck in here and there.

"Vertigogo" b/w "En Este Momente" & "Bakin' Bread" :: 7" (Merge) 1990
Cathode Gumshoe :: 7" (Merge) 1991
"Glider" b/w "Soul Taker" :: 7" (Merge) 1992
split 7" w/ Polvo :: 7" (Merge) 1992
Close Up :: LP/CD/CS (Merge) 1993