Gainesville, FL punk rock ‘n’ roll band Mike & The Nerve are dropping their latest single, “Bad News”, tomorrow morning, But we’ve got the video premiere for you right now. The single is a straightforward, punk-tinged rock track true to the band’s Gainesville roots.
Lyrically, “Bad News” is about temptation in its many awful forms and the struggle to resist it when we’re at our lowest. “In the context of the song, this temptation is personified as a charismatic friend who is ‘bad news’ for the narrator,” explains the band, “Meaning, they’re nothing but trouble.” The track is the first single from the band’s upcoming 12-track studio album Watershed Drive, due for release on September 17th.
The video features footage of Mike & The Nerve’s time spent recording “Bad News”. “Recording this song was a great experience. It was one of the quicker songs to record in the studio, and everyone crushed it on their performances,” says the band, “The music video we did for it was relatively low-key too. Mostly a compilation of footage from our time recording the song in the studio. We think the camaraderie we all felt during that experience comes through in the video.“
Punk rock was born and bred into Gainesville natives Mike & The Nerve. Shaped by a local punk scene which spawned such acts as Against Me!, Hot Water Music and Less Than Jake, frontman Mike Llerena began contextualizing his influences, mixing classic rock with punk and folk — with acts like The Gaslight Anthem and Frank Turner serving as constant reference points in his songwriting. Starting out playing shows and recording music under his name, Llerena has grown Mike & The Nerve into a full-fledged band, which now includes drummer Josh Napier, backing vocalist Garret Pogue, guitarist/backing vocalist Eli Garland and bassist James Conlin. Llerena explains “The name ‘The Nerve’ refers to both the idea of nervous energy and having ‘the nerve’ to go and do things that seem personally insurmountable, both of which are topics referenced in a lot of the band’s lyrics.”
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