Monday night Essex, England 5-piece Powerpop-RocknRoll band Bad Nerves played at Delmar Hall in St. Louis. The band often is called the bastard child of a Ramones/Strokes one night stand with their fast paced and short punk and garage rock songs. Most of the bands songs clock in at less than three minutes with the exception of a handful of songs off of their two albums. The band consists of Bobby Nerves: on vocals, William Phillipson and George Berry on guitars, Jonathan Poulton, on bass, and Samuel Thompson on drums.

The band kicked things off with the the infectious ‘Baby Drummer’. It was the first song that I had heard from the band thanks to the animated show Invincible episode . Front man Bobby Nerves asked the crowed if they had seen the band open for Royal Blood a few years ago with several in the crowd cheering back. He also apologized for that show as he calld St. Louis “St. Loo-ee”, as most British bands I have seen have pronounced it that way, but he wanted to make things right so he could sleep better at night and he would be saying St. Louis several times throughout the nights set. Near the end of the set front man Bobby Nerves said that he really enjoyed having an opening band like Spiritual Cramp as it made them really give it their all. The band closed out the night with a three song encore of ‘You’ve Got the Nerve‘, ‘Can’t Be Mine‘, and ‘Dreaming‘. Standout songs of the night for me were ‘Baby Drummer‘, ‘Radio Punk‘, ‘USA‘, and the blistering ‘Antidote‘.

Spiritual Cramp