When asked to describe his band, guitarist Liam Muhler put it simply: “I gotta say, this is probably one of the luckiest bands where I’ve ever seen where stuff just kind of falls together last minute and it’s great.” From the band’s split-second meetings, successful two days in the studio, and natural musical abilities, Spyne! had seen success way before the release of their debut album.
The New Jersey-based four-piece consists of lead singer and guitarist Kyle Moyer, lead guitarist Liam Muhler, bassist Toni Manousos, and drummer Eric Muhler. With inspirations from Foo Fighters, The Who, and My Chemical Romance, the band channels some of rock’s greatest to create their own vibrant sound.
“Initially, before this we were a three-piece,” explained Kyle. The trio, including Kyle and Toni, started around 2021 when their high school, Saint Joseph High School in Metuchen, hosted a battle of the bands competition in which the boys entered and landed second place. The opener track on the band’s debut album, “Away,” was actually written for the event for the purpose of grabbing the attention of the audience. “It was fine, we were just friends and stuff [with the third member]. Eventually life kept moving on, and there was a point in time where we weren’t really doing anything, but the name Spyne! was there at that point.”
Kyle explained that the unique band name stemmed from a scoliosis diagnosis. “Our old drummer had scoliosis, and so when we were doing practice and stuff, we came up with the name ‘Spine,’” he began. “To beat the 9 million other bands that had S-P-I-N-E, we said, ‘Okay, let’s put a ‘y’ there—just like the Beatles put an ‘A’.” When I found out there were like three other bands that had S-P-Y-N-E, I was like, ‘Alright, exclamation point.’”
The band moved forward with their career when their previous drummer left, and Spyne! was asked to play the Stone Pony Sunday Showcase “like every band around here,” Kyle joked.
Within two weeks after their previous drummer left, the two found Eric, who worked the lights at Asbury’s Wonder Bar, to join the band as a replacement. “I said, ‘This guy seems cool,’ and one of the other workers was like, ‘Oh, he plays drums.’ I was like, ‘Great, I need that,’” Kyle explained. When Eric agreed to play, he asked Eric’s brother Liam to join on guitar.
“I actually met these guys the night before the [first] gig,” Liam clarified. “The night before, for one hour, one rehearsal, and it went good.”
While the show had its hiccups, the band was overall proud of the performance. “The musical chemistry was always there,” Toni said.
On Christmas Eve 2024, Spyne! released their debut album, “Out of Nowhere.” Recorded in Shorefire Studios in Long Branch, the album clearly demonstrates the band’s sound and passion for rock n’ roll.
“We paid for two days. The first day was to get the tracks down and the next day to do overdubs, and that was it,” said Kyle.
“I do all the lyrics. The riff is pretty much just me and the song structure,” he continued. He elaborated on how the song then goes to Eric who adds the drum track, then Toni who does the bass track, and lastly Liam adds the guitar. “It’s the whole four-way stop of musicianship to get to the final product.”
“Out of Nowhere” contains 10 tracks of intense musical energy and impressive lyricism. “[I write about] life experiences,” Kyle continued. “‘Show Down’ is written about a date you go on with somebody when it’s going really well. ‘Drive With Me’ is a date with another person where the other person doesn’t like you. ‘Away’ refers a lot to gambling and stuff…And then ‘Little Wrangler’ is about my Jeep.”
The most unique song on the album, “Little Wrangler,” simply consists of Kyle’s voice and guitar. “It’s just him and the guitar; there was nothing we could add to that,” Liam said.
When performing the album live at gigs, the band explained how they change up the songs a little bit each time. Kyle explained, “Everything has been tweaked. Of course, when you are writing an album, you are like, ‘Everything is perfect.’ Then you listen to it back, and you’re like, ‘Oh, I could have fixed that,’ and ‘I could have added this,’ especially with mixing changes and stuff like that. With every show, you’re gonna hear [modified versions of] that. It’s going to be different and unique to itself whenever we play them.”
The band admits that their most beloved performance was the night of their Spyne! Christmas Show at The Stone Pony, which was a sold-out show and consisted of about 600 people. “I don’t think I’ve ever gotten an audience that large and totally riled up…and festive,” Liam joked.
Now, following the release of their album and recent performances at Asbury Fest and Crossroad in Garwood, NJ, Spyne! is focusing on gigs while still working on new material. “We have a couple of songs in the works, I’m always writing something. The two that we have in our Google Drive right now sound really good. It’s a little bit of a change of pace from some of the stuff we have been doing, but it is very much like “Away”; it is very much keeping the heavier side of where we came from and what we started with,” Liam explained.
Music has always been part of who these boys are. From growing up in musical families to finding their rhythm on stage together, Spyne! isn’t slowing down any time soon. It’s clear that for them, playing music isn’t just a hobby or a career—it’s something deeper, something that connects them to the world around them.
“I think I always loved music. I think most people love music. I don’t think most people want to go a day in their life without it,” Liam concluded.
You can find Spyne! on Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube, Amazon Music, and iTunes.
Photo courtesy of Spyne! | Interviewed on June 10, 2025
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