Street Voice UK

I love Rock n Roll. Luckily I’m in a position where I come across through all manner of bands through friends, associates and other bands. One of those bands were Bad Nerves. After hearing Bad Nerves debut album I then had to see them in action supporting The Hives. I loved them and really wanted them in Street Voice. Here’s what Bad Nerves had to say for themselves.

First off how’s the tour dates going with the Hives? 

Yeah, great! They are amazing. Greatest frontman I’ve ever seen. They seem like really awesome people too which is a bonus.  Very inspiring to watch every night.

How did the tour support come about?

I honestly am not too sure. I think our manager contacted their manager or something. And then he showed them the music and they were into it. Something like that! They appreciate fast rock and roll the same as we do and there ain’t really that many bands doing it at this level. All the great fast bands I can think of are fairly underground, and they shouldn’t be!

You’ve got your second album released in May so are you playing many songs off that record?

We’re doing 3 tracks of that new record on this tour, Don’t Stop, USA and You’ve Got The Nerve. We would do more but we ain’t had the time to rehearse!

What are the best and worst aspects of playing a large tour like you’re on?

The best aspects are everything sounds nice on stage and we get lovely catering thanks to the headline bands! There aren’t really any bad aspects to be honest, you get a few people staring at you vacantly whilst you play but that don’t really phase us. Support slots are completely different to headline shows. It’s pretty cool watching the headline bands every night too, especially The Hives cause they’re in the same kind of musical sphere as us, and they put on an absolutely killer show. The last dying embers of real showmanship!

We’ve come a long way since covid / lockdown. Did you look back and ever think how did we manage to survive as a band let alone release a debut album?

If we hadn’t put that record out when we did I think that would have been the end and we’d have just been a band that put out some singles then fizzled out. But the whole reason we started this band was to put out a record, so we ignored what everyone said and put it out in the middle of the pandemic and within a few months our following started to grow quicker than it ever had. And we’re still riding off that growth today. I feel like this singles game thing is a con, the viral hit phenomenon. Artists should just make records. If you can’t afford it, produce it yourself. You can teach yourself how to record and mix to a pretty decent standard with the internet now. If you write great songs, the production is practically irrelevant anyway. Check out Mick Squalor – Goodbye Berlin on YouTube, technically not great production, but a great hook. I had that stuck in my head for months, I will never not know that melody. The super DIY production adds to it if anything, it’s so full of character. The levels are all over the place, it’s fucking brilliant. Often in the pursuit of ‘great’ production songs lose their character. My point is just get your music out there, make a record, play as many shows as you can, and watch it grow. If you don’t put a record out and you only play live sporadically you’ll be moving at snail’s pace forever. 

How does your debut album compare to the one you’re releasing at the end of May?

There’s more variety on this record. Some of our fastest ever songs and some of our slowest. I think it follows on quite well from the first one. People think they want a carbon copy of the first but they don’t. The reason the first one is so well liked is because it can’t be replicated. All we can do is make something new and follow our intuition the same way we did originally, which is what we’ve done.

So what inspires you to keep on playing the music that you play?

It’s a great adventure. It has high and lows of course but it really is a dream just to be pursuing it. It’s exciting. It’s fun. It’s unpredictable. I highly recommend it.

Aside from the Hives tour support and your second album being released what other plans do you have for 2024?

Apart from those two huge, great things??! We’re going back to America, playing some awesome festivals, plus a bunch of shows with our good friends Royal Blood and Wine Lips. Can’t wait.

Anything you’d like to add?

The Hives are the greatest live band on the planet currently.

Yes I agree the Hives were amazing and the best band I’ve seen this year even out shining Skindred. Anyway thank you so much to Bad Nerves for doing the interview. Please be sure to check out their new album out in May. Thanks also to Jazz at Kartel Music Group for making this interview happen!

Words / Photo’s – Kat Riot + Bad Nerves
Video – Bad Nerves