Bad Nerves on the first anniversary of their debut album
Credit: Jack Parker
Their self-titled record has all the hallmarks of the punk bands of the 1980s, a vaccine everyone has been waiting for, you can get in the shape of their album and it’s going straight into your arms.
British punks Bad Nerves are chaotic, unpredictable, and really fucking fun. Their songs affect you like the first nicotine shot, an all-killer-no-filler mentality that reminds you of The Ramones and Buzzcocks. We are in the middle of a four-night tour across the Netherlands in support of their thrilling self-titled debut album that has turned 1 year. On a rainy night in Rotterdam, Bad Nerves talk us through their adrenaline-fuelled pop-rock story.
Credit: Jack Parker
It's been one year since your debut album was released. How does it feel?
Bobby: Oh we are playing gigs again, isn't it? That's pretty cool. So yeah, It’s been out for a year. Obviously, we couldn't play when it first came out. Now people actually know the songs, cause they didn’t know them the last time we were playing.
Sam: I think there's also a level of frustration, having to release a record and then not being able to perform it straight away.
Jon: So relieved to finally get it out.
Bobby: Exactly. It's just a bit shit we had to wait so long to play, especially now that people are saying, when's the next album coming out? I mean, we haven't even really toured the first one.
You're working on a second album, right?
Bobby: Yeah!
Jon: It's almost done.
Bobby: We don't just put out shit. You know, we want to try and make sure it's better than the first one. Because if it's not better than the first one, it will never come out.
How different is the next record compared to the first album?
Bobby: Loads of things. I think it's a bit more of trying out different things. I’d like to think this new record to be less like song-song-song, all flowing in one direction.
Sam: We kind of know what we need to do after the first one, we know how we want to work and how we want to go about the process.
Bobby: The first one was definitely an experiment.
What's your music-creation process?
Sam: You got two of the best writers in the world right here: Will and Bobby.
Vinylwoman: So what do you do?
Sam: I sit down and I wait patiently.
Bobby: The thing is, this was like an open playing field for anyone to bring ideas. So far, it's just me and Will writing some stuff, then bringing the other guys in.
Will: I think this new album is gonna be a lot more of 5 of us.
Is this time different compared to creating the first album?
Sam: Yeah, massively because in the first one we didn't even have the whole band together. Like everything was super up in the air. I think Bobby and Will were writing just them two in a bedroom.
Will: Originally, some of the early songs were literally just me and Rob. We weren't even gonna do a band. We just wanted to write a bunch of songs.
Bobby: Yeah. Well, almost. I mean, about 80% of that first album is just me and you from my garage. And the others that I did on my own but that was it. That was the process of me and Will just making shit in my garage. I don't know, now we got more, so we know who's in the band and it feels like we've got a good team together so we can pull more ideas together and we'll see how it pans out.
Sam: I think with the first songs, they only wrote those to try to impress Jon and get him on bass.
Jon: I was genuinely surprised, I was like wow, they are actually pretty fucking good.
Credit: Theo Mcinnes
How would it be if your first album came out like 40 years ago?
Bobby: We would be fucking rich. Well, 40 years ago, in the 1980s I think we would have been like a version of Ramones.
Jon: But no one is really doing what we sound like. Because Bad Nerves are like a combination of the old stuff, isn't it? It’s a new pop sensibility. It’s not like you couldn't listen to a band as we are, like a 70s punk band or 80s punk band. It doesn't sound like anything really if you can’t hear the influences. So I think people would have been kind of impressed.
Credit: Vinylwoman
What's your favorite song to play live?
Jon: Dreaming.
Will: Electric 88.
Bobby: I think the one that gives me the most adrenaline is probably Mad Mind. At the end I gonna have a fucking heart attack. I like Electric 88 as well. I like the fastest ones because I just forget what's going on.
Jon: I do enjoy playing Palace.
George: Yeah, Palace is a lot of fun.
Bobby: Palace and Radio Punk are really fun for me, I'm always like - gotta fucking sing this perfectly, try it really fast. With the others, it’s like - yeah, who gives a fuck.
Sam: When we start the set I like to take a deep breath and then just hold my breath for 40 minutes. But yeah, I think I like Dreaming.
Bobby: Dreaming, it was the last one so we can go nuts. Also, Mad Mind, when I get to the end of it, I’m thinking - I’ve got to sing another song of these, it’s like how the fuck we can do that?
Credit: Theo Mcinnes
Name 3 greatest living musicians
Bobby: Paul McCartney, Jeff Burke, Jamie Lenman.
George: Kurt Cobain, Jeff Buckley, and John Lennon.
What's the backstory of creating Dreaming?
Bobby: That is one of the early songs. We wrote it at the beginning of 2016. Those are my favorite lyrics as well, to be honest.
If you could steal credit for any great piece of art, which would you claim?
Bobby: Probably My Shadow by Jay Reatard.
Jon: Oh God, that's a good shot. Or Turning Blue by Jay Reatard.
Vinylwoman: Bobby, last time you said Sagrada Familia.
Bobby: Oh, I think it's the most inspiring thing I've ever seen. That’s why I was obsessed with it to see that somebody did leave their mark on their city in the most magnificent, creative, insane way, It’s just so inspiring! Things like writing songs just seem nothing compared to that, you know?
Jon: I take the Holy Grail maybe.
Will: The wheel.
Bobby: That's the great one! Reinvent the wheel? No, he invented the wheel!
Bad Nerves - Bad Nerves
What are the unwritten rules of being in a band?
Bobby: The unwritten rules are to learn when not to push each other's buttons.
Sam: I think, first of all, is patience.
Vinylwoman: Who is the most impatient here?
Bobby: I think we can all be quite impatient. George is the most patient I would say.
Jon: Will is patient.
Sam: John is impatient but he just puts up with it.
Jon: All family doctors say “No”.
Bobby: I definitely think it's like a very delicate ecosystem.
Jon: Lockdown was bad. And then we got in the van.
Bobby: It was pretty intense. Sometimes people piss each other off. We kind of got to the point where we all know if we start to piss someone off.
Jon: And then just do it more.
Will: My thing is like accepting. Accepting no one's gonna ever be on time.
Bobby: We want everybody to show up an hour early. Yes, you have to be because we are always late. Always. I was two hours late the other day.
Sam: It's all about the vibe. We just got to be enjoying ourselves and just cracking on with each other. All you need is a couple of eyeballs from your bandmates. Then you know it’s fucking solid.
Credit: Jack Parker
What do you think people should know about you?
Bobby: Nothing.
Jon: Zero.
Vinylwoman: Mystique.
Bobby: In the world of social media these days and social media is great, it's like everybody puts everything up.
Jon: And none of it is true.
Bobby: It’s a charade. But yeah what we want them to know is just the music. It's what gonna be remaining. That we give a shit, killing ourselves on stage.
Jon: And we want other people to do it, we what other young bands do it. Like the band tonight (De Jeugd). Exactly like the band tonight.
Bobby: They (De Jeugd) messaged us and said that they like the album and if they can support us. And we got them on the show. Just doing the same thing because yeah, creativity is satisfying. I think you can't put into words how good it feels writing a song with other people.
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