Bad Nerves - Electric 88
7.8Overall Score
Lyrics8
Vocals7
Musicianship8
Emotion8
Consistency8

Bad Nerves, Electric 88
Killing Moon

Sometimes a song just works it in to your system and makes you feel like your blood is fizzing – and if you’re lucky, they’ve got a debut album coming out next month for you to bubble over to. Such is the case with Bad Nerves, East London punk rockers brim-full of panting riffs, relentless hooks, and more attitude than you can believe.

With the boundlessness of a baby Libertines with a fuzz pedal, and all the energy that the Cali skate-punk scene could muster as seen through the London fog, Bad Nerves have a penchant for throwing together utter bangers. Electric 88, their latest single, doesn’t catch a breath from the moment the opening riff kicks in to the mic-drop ending; cymbals and gang vocals propel Bad Nerves through a glorious, leaping two minutes.

Baby Drummer is the same frenzied mashup of genres, laissez-faire pop put through a blender with the 80s’ finest, most ferocious punk. Bad Nerves are nothing if not consistent: both tracks come in at just under two and a half minutes, both are irresistible mosh-pit bait, and both are sheer ecstasy to imagine seeing live. Bad Nerves seem like one of those bands that would pop up in a pub, blow your mind for 20 minutes then disappear until in a year they’re the band everyone’s obsessed with – the spirit of punk is alive here, and their self-titled debut is a guaranteed whirlwind.

Bad Nerves is out October 23rd.