Detroit’s Ethan Marc Band is hitting 2026 hard with their debut full-length album Stay This Way. EMB are relatively young, forming in 2024, and Stay This Way follows a pair of EP’s released in subsequent years.
Ethan Marc Band - Stay This Way
The initial takeaway of Stay This Way is the diversity of material. Sure, it’s indie-rock, but there’s a very strong pop element that pushes it to that side of any genre-bucket you might want to put them in. Toss in a good dose of soul, Motown, a bit of hip-hop, and an occasional dash of funk and you’re starting to taste the flavors of the soup come together. Fans of everyone from Bruno Mars to Alabama Shakes can find something to latch on to here.
The second takeaway is the incredible production value. Stay This Way sounds completely pro. This ain’t nobody’s basement demo, and if it is, that person knows what they hell they’re doing. The separation, space, arrangements, and performances are all top-notch. It’s been a while since something this polished came through the Pencil Storm mail slot.
These guys are unabashedly Detroit, and we’re happy to have them. EMB guitarist and producer Michael Seger stopped by the Pencil Storm compound for some sushi & tea and a chat about Stay This Way. The band is gearing up for a tour down to SouthBySouthwest in March and a big record release show in Detroit in February. The record hits this week so we thought it’d be a swell time to chew the fat and get caught up.
Hi Michael! Thanks for joining us and talking about your new record – it’s fantastic! Can you please fill our readers in about how the band got together and the dynamics and logistics of recording this? The production is amazing.
I started working with Ethan at my recording studio back in 2020, originally on his solo material, which leaned more toward pop at the time. Over the years, I also mentored him in audio engineering, and he became really strong on the technical side. We messed around with writing songs together here and there, but nothing ever fully clicked.
That changed in the summer of 2024 when we decided to take things seriously and build a full band. At first, we were mostly playing Ethan’s original material and doing local shows, but everything shifted once we were invited to play SXSW 2025. I brought a small mobile recording setup with us to Austin, and between shows we ended up writing over ten songs in an Airbnb.
Since then, we’ve made a habit of taking weekend Airbnb trips specifically to write and record. We’ll all get away together, set up a mobile studio, and lock in for about 72 hours with no distractions. What’s unique is that we don’t really write in a traditional sense. Nothing is pre-written. We just start playing whatever comes to us, track everything live into Pro Tools, and let the songs grow naturally. Most of our songs are started and finished within about two hours.
We’ve self-recorded every song we’ve released, and one weekend alone we wrote and recorded twelve full tracks. Once we narrow down the songs that are ready to share, we send them to our mixing engineer SP in Kalamazoo for final touches, and then to our friend Dustin at DMA Mastering to wrap things up.
It’s a pretty diverse collection of styles and genres, from pop and dance to soul and rock. What’s in your record collections that has gone into creating this stew of different feels?
It’s honestly all over the place in the best way. There’s a lot of hip-hop in there, Wu-Tang Clan and Mac Miller, mixed with rock influences like The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, and Radiohead. We also pull a lot of inspiration from local artists. Our ages range from mid-20s to 40-plus, so everyone brings different tastes to the table, and that variety naturally shows up in the music.
The Ethan Marc Band
You guys are fairly new to the Detroit scene, no? I have my thoughts, but what’s your perspective of the scene here in this city? Do you find it embracing and flourishing? Inclusive/Exclusive? Any insights about what is or isn’t happening here that maybe should or shouldn’t be?
We really love Detroit. Since forming as a full band, we’ve been shown a lot of love here and have been lucky to share stages with artists we genuinely respect, both locally and nationally. That said, Detroit can definitely be a cliquey city. There are certain circles we don’t naturally fit into, and we’ve felt that pushback before, especially with some festivals where we didn’t quite match the “hipster” aesthetic they were going for.
But overall, Detroit has embraced us, and we embrace it right back. The city has a strong identity, and even when you don’t fit neatly into every box, there’s still room to carve out your own lane.
You’re heading south in March, correct? What’s that tour looking like?
Yeah, we’re heading south in March and couldn’t be more excited. We’ll be hitting Nashville, Dallas, Houston, four nights in Austin for SXSW, then Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Lexington, and wrapping things up in a college town called Blacksburg.
This tour has been very DIY, which has been both challenging and rewarding. We’re playing shows every single night with no breaks, mostly to keep costs down. Between reaching out to over 300 bands for support slots and sending more than 100 venue e-mails to lock in holds, it’s been a massive learning experience. But everything is confirmed now, and we’ve got some truly amazing local artists opening for us in each city.
Record Release Show: February 21 at the Magic Stick in Detroit
What’s the long-game? Where are you looking to take this band in the coming years?
More touring, deeper connections, and helping people through our music. We just want to keep building something honest, keep showing up, and live the dream of broke rock musicians doing what we love, no matter what it takes.
Check out the Ethan Marc Band here: https://www.ethanmarcmusic.com/, buy Stay This Way here: https://www.ethanmarcmusic.com/store/p/stwvinyl and stream it everywhere.
Jeremy Porter lives near Detroit, fronts the rock and roll band Jeremy Porter And The Tucos, and plays acoustic shows all over the place. Follow him and them on Facebook to read his road blog about their adventures on the dive-bar circuit.
www.jeremyportermusic.com | www.blog.jeremyportermusic.com
www.thetucos.com
www.facebook.com/jeremyportermusic
www.rockandrollrestrooms.com
Twitter: @jeremyportermi | Instagram: @onetogive & @jeremyportermusic
