Bad Nerves and Spiritual Cramp Amp Up Nashville

Rayna Leigh
May 17
2 min read

Photos and Words by: Rayna Leigh

Nashville, TN- Music City felt the walls and ground quake on Wednesday night, and I’m not talking about the 4.5 magnitude earthquake that hit Tennessee earlier in the week. No, I’m talking about the heavy-hitting punk show that shook the Basement East: Spiritual Cramp and Bad Nerves, as part of the Still Nervous Tour.

The night began with a Spiritual Cramp backdrop and static television screens with the band name broadcast across. As soon as the beat kicked in, it was a full-throttle display of rebellious attitude and unbridled energy. Lead singer Mike Fenton is a showman, jumping from the drum riser and swinging himself wildly. When he leans into the microphone, it feels more like a megaphone, broadcasting their message and music beyond the back walls of the venue. The message: classic anti-establishment anger and grit, with middle fingers raised in the air to thunderous applause and cheers of agreement.

The six-piece band hails from San Francisco, California, and has a sound that touches on the forefathers of punk such as the Ramones, with driving beats and chants; much like The Ramones, you don’t have to know what exactly is being said, it’s clear that it rocks. However, Spiritual Cramp isn’t entirely your typical stripped-down garage band either- they make great use of electronic interludes and synth/keyboards (played by José Luna-Gonzalez) to up the stylization. Phone-call introductions, references to the classic punk track “Blitzkrieg Bop”, and electro-beats made it so that there was never a moment of silence between the cheers and the opening notes of the next track.

The headliner of the night is UK-based “powerpop” punk band Bad Nerves, who are on the road in support of their second studio album Still Nervous. In every sense, this band is true-blue British punk. From the harmonies to the fast-and-hard beats to the all-gas-no-brakes attitude the band exuded, it felt as if the all-time favorites of classic UK punk had converged into one young band. For me, I sensed inspiration from Billy Idol’s Generation X and The Buzzcocks, and even a hint of early Japan (circa the “Adolescent Sex” album), which was a recipe for success all around. For those that came to mosh, the pit was in perpetual motion throughout the set, and for those who fancy a more melodic side, songs like “Radio Punk” had the venue singing in unison.

The full set of songs was clearly not enough for the amped up audience. The call for “ONE MORE SONG” not only reverberated off the walls, but the stomps were their own venue-wide earthquake. The band’s fast and aggressive three song encore brought crowd-surfers launching themselves from the front of the stage, high jumps from the band, and the kind of larger-than-life vigor that you really can only find at a club punk show.

Bad Nerves are not just punk rock noise. They brought high-voltage music and stage presence that surged through every inch of the Basement East, and left me in genuine awe of the most thunderous act I’ve seen yet in Music City.