Interview by Marcus courtesey of Agouti Music The Nerve Agents are an incredible Bay Area hardcore/punk band that has recently released their latest CD, Days Of The White Owl, on Revelation Records. Days Of The White Owl is a bombardment attack on your hearing senses. This release brings to mind great bands, new and old, like Minor Threat, The Adolescents, The Misfits, AFI, Sick Of It All and Screw 32. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to find out more about The Nerve Agents, so I conducted this interview (through e-mail) with Andy, the drummer of The Nerve Agents. (EZ) Who is in the band and what does each person in the band do? (Andy)- Well, Tim and Zac are the guitarists, I'm Andy, and I play the drums, Eric sings, and Dante plays the bass. (EZ)- How did the name The Nerve Agents come about? (Andy)- The name came from a book Eric had from the military, we were flipping through it one day, and saw the name, and we all liked it. It was kind of on a whim I guess. (EZ)- I know that Eric (lead vocalist) was also the lead vocalist for Redemption 87. Do you find The Nerve Agents being compared to them a lot? If so, do you think that is a fair comparison? Are The Nerve Agents fans former Redemption 87 fans? (Andy)- Yeah, when we first started people would always compare us to Redemption [87], Eric has a very unique vocal style so people did compare us a lot, and it doesn’t really happen that much anymore. The Nerve Agents are a lot different than Redemption [87] now, we have come into our own style, which I think makes people see us as our own entity. We’re not like a Redemption [87], or Model American rip-off. A lot of our earlier fans were big Redemption [87] fans. We attracted a lot of hard-core kids, being on Rev [Revelation Records] helped that a lot too. I agree that Eric has a very unique vocal style and I also agree that The Nerve Agents are very different compared to Redemption 87. I personally heard a heavy influence of old D.C. hardcore (Minor Threat) and Southern California hardcore (Half Off, Uniform Choice) on the first album, while on Nights of the White Owl it seems like more of a combination of old D.C hardcore with older darker edge punk (Adolescents, The Misfits)-making both releases very different from Redemption 87’s music (straight-forward hardcore). So I totally agree that The Nerve Agents are their own entity. (EZ)- This leads to my next question. On your first full-length release, The Nerve Agents, there was a heavy old school D.C. (Minor Threat) & So. Cal. (Uniform Choice & Half Off) hardcore sound to it, but on the band’s latest release, Days Of The White Owl, there seemed to be a more dark, eerie feel to it than on your self-titled release, like a combination of Minor Threat, The Misfits and The Adolescents-was that planned or did it just come about that way? Did you guys already have all the songs completed when you went into the studio to record Days Of The White Owl? (Andy)- I think the change of our style came from just getting better at working with all the members in the band. When the E.P. was recorded, it was just Tim, Eric, Kevin and I. Now with the addition of Dante, things started to move in a different direction, and we all went with it. We all believe that a band needs to grow in order to stay exciting, to keep things going. When bands just do the same old thing, it tends to become boring, I think we were just trying to keep things exciting. (EZ)- What are some of your favorite bands (as The Nerve Agents and for yourself)? What other styles of music does the band and yourself listen to besides punk/hardcore music? Do any of the other styles of music reflect onto the band's music? (Andy)- We all listen to a wide variety of music: it ranges from 80's stuff, to gothic to indie stuff, to punk rock. Personally, my favorite records to listen to right now are the new Rancid record, Love As Laughter, the new Jets To Brazil record, The Pixies’ Trompe Le Monde seems to never leave my CD player, there is too much to list. (EZ)- As a whole, do you/the band enjoy recording and touring? What are some of the positive and negative aspects of both? Does the band prefer doing one to the other? (Andy)- We all love to tour and record. But, as with everything, there are pitfalls with each thing. Touring is hard because you are away from home, and you miss your family and friends, but it is fun nonetheless. We all see our band as something that we do that is fun, we love to play out, and just hang out with each other. It is our release from everyday life. (EZ)- When not touring or recording what do the members of the band do? What are some of things you do to relax? (Andy)- Well, Eric and I work for the most part. Tim and Dante are both in school, we are just like anyone else, we all have jobs, bills and responsibilities.......it kinda sucks. (EZ)- Being from the Bay Area and touring, how does the independent Bay Area music scene compare to other cities you've played in? Some people say that Bay Area folks are spoiled when it comes to seeing great bands play, do you think that's true? (Andy)- I definitely think that we are spoiled in the Bay Area, there always seems to be something cool going on, especially in the city. I, myself, used to work at Bottom of the Hill, in San Francisco, and I would always see the raddest shows. There just seems to be so much talent around us, and we are fortunate enough to live in a place that encourages kids to go out and try to become better at their instruments and song writing and that sort of thing. I love it. (EZ)- Where do you see the band in the next few years? Are there any side projects/bands from any members of The Nerve Agents that the fans should know about? (Andy)- Hopefully, we will continue to grow and continue to write good songs, and just get better as a band. As far as side projects, Tim and I have a little thing that we have been working on for a while now, but it isn’t anything that we will play with for a while. I see Tim and I being in bands together for a while, we did Model American together and now this, and I think we work too good together to walk away from each other, that and he’s my bud.