The Ernies were formed in 1994[2] by four students of Virginia Commonwealth University: Will Hummel, Tom Martin, Matt Goves, and Hayes Smith.
The first track, "Jive", addresses the style change with lyrics like "We're not ska-core or reggae, jazz or funk, we're not hip-hop or rock or pop" and "to pacify those of you who need a label, call it what you want, we know you'll kick it if you're able".
Without Steve Bider in the band, the horn section on Dropping Science consisted only of Stefan Demetriadis on trombone, and Hayes Smith on the baritone saxophone.
With trombonist Stefan Demetriadis no longer in the band, the only horn section remaining for this release was Hayes Smith on a variety of saxophones.
[citation needed] The song "Polarized" was featured as part of the in-game music of the 2018 video game Far Cry 5.
Will Hummel, Matt Goves and Mike Hughes reunited and performed songs from Meson Ray together on January 3, 2013, at The Camel in Richmond, Virginia, along with Stefan Demetriadis and Chris Bondi.