Essex rockers Bad Nerves kicked off a month-long US run on Sept. 6 with an appearance at LA’s Regent Theater, serving up a high-powered setlist ranging from their eponymous debut to their brand new sophomore studio record, ‘Still Nervous.’
Stream: ‘Still Nervous’ – Bad Nerves
If there’s one ticket worth getting your hands on in the next 30 days, it is unequivocally a Bad Nerves concert ticket.
As the UK radio punks begin their trek across America in support of their sophomore studio album Still Nervous, frontman Bobby Bird, guitarists William Phillipson and George Berry, bassist Jonathan Poulton, and drummer Samuel Thompson are hauling with them enough rock n’ roll voltage to power every venue in the country ten times over.
LA-based bands Cheap Tissue and The Mainliners opened the tour’s inaugural night. While they powered through two-minute punk numbers and perked the ears of The Regent’s standing room, fans had an opportunity to browse merchandise from each of the three groups, choosing from their pick of T-shirts, exclusive colored vinyl, posters and more. It was Cheap Tissue’s first gig back from a hiatus – they thanked Bad Nerves for “bringing [them] back to life” after a few years off the radar.
The Mainliners followed, and their brand of classic, fast-paced punk enlivened the crowd further. Taking inspiration from The Clash’s London Calling and records from The Germs and Adolescents, the four-piece’s set was decorated with odd time signatures, nostalgic 90’s melodies, and plenty of onstage vigor. Their EP The Mainliners From Hell was released recently via Bondage Records – tracks like “Thunderbird” and “No Mas Tequila” made for a lively introduction to the fairly new group.
When Bad Nerves took the stage, they wavered from their typical “USA” introduction to play Still Nervous standout “Don’t Stop,” powered by an army of Fender Hot Rod DeVille’s. Originally released as a single back in 2021, the track has since shot up to their #2 most popular song on Spotify – in Bird’s words, it’s a “call to action to peacefully oppose the status quo,” predicated on Thompson’s breakneck beat.
“Baby Drummer” was a well-placed second choice, circling back to the five-piece’s 2020 debut. When I interviewed the band last summer, Bird explained that most of the tracks from the 12-track album originated from him and Phillipson jamming on drums and guitar in Bird’s garage. “Sometimes I’ll hear songs in my head and record them into my phone. Other times I’ll have a cool beat that I like and I’ll just track that and then fiddle around on guitar to it,” he added.
Gotta get me a new drummer, whoo
She was an angel, your mother
Come on, gimme a new chord
Gimme a new strummer, uh
Baby, you’ve got the rhythm
– “Baby Drummer,” Bad Nerves
“Palace” and “Terminal Boy,” two more fan-favorites from their self-titled debut, came next. My spot just in front of Berry’s pedalboard gave me a phenomenal view of his setup, including his Telecaster and a line of black guitar picks leading to his microphone – one small issue being that I know the absolute bare minimum about equipment. From what I could tell, he and Phillipson’s boards were concocted with drive and channel in mind, both of which layer to create the distinctive Bad Nerves guitar tone.
A welcome nostalgic moment came when “Radio Punk” surfaced mid-way through the set. Bird famously (well, to anyone who’s heard the 2023 Alive In London album) adlibs during the bridge, following “I wanna be on the radio” with an enthused “fuck the radio!” that isn’t featured on the studio recording. Singing along was thoroughly satisfying, and browsing hundreds of fans in unanimous agreement made it even more enjoyable. It was surely the rowdiest I’d seen The Regent, but that was to be expected with such a spirited set.
“USA” eventually had its moment, naturally. Originally released just in time for their first American appearances last year, the simple, speedy track was assumedly written with live audiences in mind, as its lyrics are quick to learn and sing back, even for those who’ve never previously heard them. The crowd took full advantage of this fact as the song progressed both in tempo and lyrical resonance.
Good morning, America
The United States of America
Two million prisoners
Rock and roll is bad for their business
USA
– “USA,” Bad Nerves
“I was just trying to write something that wasn’t Bad Nerves,” Bird said of “Sorry,” the next up to bat in the 19-song evening. “I was getting a bit bored of the same fast drum beat over and over. That lead guitar line came to me one sleepy morning, and I hummed it into my phone and recorded it that day.” With that raucous riff and some of the most impressive vocal melodies on Still Nervous, it acted as a powerful singalong effective in breaking up the night’s average BPM.
It was, in fact, a song like “Sorry” that best typified the group’s melodic dexterity. While maintaining a wall-of-sound rhythm section in Poulton and Thompson, Phillipson and Berry used their guitars to build nonstop upon that foundation – the night was host to not even a second of dead air as a result, with Bird attending closely to the crowd’s energy level from start to finish.
Oh girl, you’re lost in wonderland
And I’m sleeping in a garbage hotel
Oh well, I guess I’ll see you when I’m older
Somewhere on earth, you’re a stranger
Never turning around
“Sorry,” Bad Nerves
At the end of “You Should Know By Now,” Bird joked of the “fuck being in California” lyric: “I love California.” The crowd sang loudly along irregardless, appreciating the group’s repeated mentioning of the city in prior releases. “Around London’s eye, yeah / To LA, girl / Living like a rented movie / It’s you and I,” he sang in “Palace,” drawing just as much enthusiasm from the fully-engaged venue as they formed a pit in the center of the room.
“Can’t Be Mine” closed the set – it’s been a staple track since circulating in punk and alternative circles starting around 2018. “We’ll be playing this song every night for the rest of our lives,” Bird said, an homage to the fact that it’s risen to the #1 slot on their Spotify page with nearly 10 million plays. But numbers don’t lie, and as the room came alive yet again, there was some credence given to the theory that things are popular for a reason.
Do you never learn? Are you listening?
You got to act right
You got a really damn good thing going
But do we ever stop when we’re feeling it?
Stop it now, stop it now, can’t stop it now
‘Cause it’s a mystery of something more
– “Can’t Be Mine,” Bad Nerves
Back in 2017, Bird sang that there’s “no golden ticket,” that “rock and roll is a long road.”
He was right – literally, he joked of how long the flight from the UK was, and figuratively, the band’s been grafting for the better part of a decade, yet they’re still referred to as a “new” punk band. But for audiences, I believe wholeheartedly that there are those golden ticket moments, where walking in the doors of The Regent feels like short circuiting fate, because they should be the doors of The Forum instead.
To trim the fat and get right to the heart of it as they’ve done time and time again, should you walk into a Bad Nerves show, you might just walk out with a new favorite band. They left nothing in reserve and everything on the stage, embodying the unfettered joy of punk up until the “Last Beat.”
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© Miranda McDonald
© Miranda McDonaldStill Nervous
an album by Bad Nerves
