misternervous.com » band

Don’t bury me ’cause I’m not dead yet

Wes — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 22:15:56 +0000

I’ve tried and I’ve tried and I’m still mystified I can’t do it anymore and I’m not satisfied…

Happy Dad Kelly with lil Josephine

Seriously, folks, happiness is wonderful but it apparently still doesn’t fill the void that only rocking out can satisfy. We’ve been taking most of the last year off, and it’s been grand without the band in a lotta ways. I’ve been in a very fine place since Chelsea walked through my door and stayed… and Kelly’s been basking in the glow of marriage and fatherhood since the arrival of his adorable daughter last summer.

Chelsea

Jana (guitarist from the Monthlies) & daughter Josephine Wininger

But let’s face it… happiness just ain’t enuff for those of us who just gotta rockNroll. After a while something irresistable builds up – until it’s clear the big noise is either gonna break out …or yer gonna explode.

So this summer Mister Nervous is back out there. And I’ll be checking in here much more frequently.

It’s not like I even have a choice… clearly I’m addicted to big guitar for life.

-WES

…aaannd we’re back

Wes — Thu, 26 May 2011 20:59:58 +0000

Mister Nervous returns from hiatus to launch Memorial Day weekend at the Old Town Pub in Pasadena

Yeah, it is a bit hard to believe that our last Mister Nervous show was back in January.
We’re back this month and it is time to party like mad: We’re playing the Old Town Pub in Pasadena Friday May 27th.
We’re closing out the show preceded by The Sundowners and Jinsai... and I’m headin’ to the weddin’ of the head-banging bassist for both those bands Michael Harpel to his gal Tanya the very next day. Yep: Michael is doing double duty on stage the night before he’s to be hitched (so you gotta know this’ll be a raging party).

The show opens at 9pm with Amanda Jones & The Sugartits 3
then it’s
JINSAI @ 10:00!
The Sundowners @ 11:00!
Mister Nervous @ 12:00!

Amanda Jones & The Sugartits 3

JINSAI

Silverlake Lounge Saturday at Six: Mister Nervous – Monthlies.

Wes — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:37:24 +0000

We’re gonna enjoy this one – so will you. THE MONTHLIES. are one of our favorite bands (& it’s kinda a family affair, if you will, as Kelly’s brother is the lead singer – but we love ‘em cause the songs are soooo good and the band’s a joy to experience).

Also it’s a celebration of a birthday among The Monthlies: the lovely and talented lead guitarist Jana.

Mister Nervous is up first at 6pm, yup REALLY SERIOUSLY 6pm. The Ross Sea Party is up at 7 and The Monthlies. at 8. It’s all over by 9pm allowing you to continue the party elsewhere nourished by good songs and great people. The new Mister Nervous song CRYSTAL GIRL has been a hit with audiences every time we play it – we’ll be recording this one soon. Naturally we’ll have copies of the DRAMA cd available… we’re gonna give some stuff away too.

MONTHLIES. lead singer and songwriter Wes O’Lee has also embarked on a very ambitious project: writing, recording and posting a new song every day in 2011. It’s almost disturbing how prolific he can be – writing so many good songs. It’s enuff to make Mister Nervous full of jealous envy…(well, Wes D anyway).

…and so in the venerable (haha) misternervous.com tradition of supporting stuff that is totally awesome (even if WE didn’t MAKE it ourselves) we present here the first two posts in the WES O’LEE – A SONG A DAY 2011 project:

OK: this first one here is also a family affair: Kelly plays drums and sings back-up along with his gorgeous gal Jana… and Monthlies. bassist Chris Hall notes:”I need to tag my bass from 8th grade in this sucka!”.

and heeeere’s song #2
(‘scuse me for a minnit… I think I got sumpin’ in my eye…)

MISTER NERVOUS – THE ROSS SEA PARTY – THE MONTHLIES.
SATURDAY JANUARY 8th @ 6pm
SILVERLAKE LOUNGE
2906 West Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 663-9636

Black Friday with Old Californio

Wes — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 20:03:35 +0000

The Sundowners and Mister Nervous at the Old Towne Pub

Old Californio: music that could have only been created in Southern California? (photo by Roman Cho)

Is it currently OK to mention New Riders of the Purple Sage, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Spirit or The Grateful Dead in polite conversations about WestCoast music and still seem reasonably cool? Like I care. These OLD CALIFORNIO guys have that 1970 thing going, fer sure, but with their own updates and personal flavor. The band rocks with the mild mannered authority and breezy casualness that can turn a stage into a back porch. I defy you to listen to some of the tunes on their playlist there (Mother Road f’rinstance) without getting that desert vista/top down/cruisin’ in the sunshine feeling.

"Indignant playing and spirited drinking" (photo by Didier Chevalier)

2009's Westering Again

OLD CALIFORNIO: Westering Again

What we’re talking about here are really great songs (remember those?). There’s no real dross or dead weight on this ambitious work. It’s a melodically complex and accomplished effort, hard set with a blast-furnace production that reveals the considerable talents of the band’s membership.

What we’re talking about here is bright guitar-driven melodies with complicated and earthy arrangements, mixed in with a little down-home country twang and dovetailing instrumental jams, providing ample evidence that they also have a tacit understanding of what made those great classic rock outfits of yore so exhilarating and memorable in the first place. -Bryan Thomas, February 2009

OK THEN: So by now it’s pretty clear we’re lookin’ forward to sharing the Old Towne Tavern stage with these fellas and our good friends THE SUNDOWNERS (about whom I’ve often expressed my admiration: HERE for example)

We had a great time introducing new song CRYSTAL GIRL at the Airliner show so we’re natch-er-ly gonna be doin that again along with some selections from DRAMA an all… we’re up first @ 9pm followed by the prides of Pasadena N Alta Dena and summa the nicer folks you’ll ever meet. You should probably come…

Strike that if yer NOT comin what’s WRONG with you?

Nah, just kiddin…

Come anyway.

FRIDAY NOV 26th

Mr. Nervous 9:00
Old Californio 10:30
The Sundowners 12:00

Old Towne Pub
66 N. Fair Oaks
Pasadena, CA 91103
Enter through the alley on Holly Street
21+ - $5.00

MINI MANSIONS – Kiddie Hypnogogia

Wes — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 21:55:09 +0000

Saw MINI MANSIONS for the first time last night. Nice.

Hypnogogia, is a term coined by Alfred Maury for the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep (i.e. the onset of sleep). The equivalent transition to wakefulness is termed the hypnopompic state. Mental phenomena that occur during this “threshold consciousness” phase include lucid dreaming, hallucinations, out of body experiences and sleep paralysis.

(apparently I don’t know everything – AHHH-HA-hahahahahahaaaaaaaaa!!!)

The Damn Sons

Wes — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 01:17:29 +0000

Travis Schneider, Jens Kuross, Grant Lovelace

The Damn Sons bring it hard and heavy with a respect for history and a demand for immediacy. It’s like someone put Reverend Horton Heat, AC/DC, Nirvana and T-Rex in a blender and ran it till the lid blew off. This stuff rocks with a crunchy brutality and twisted melodicism that “sounds like a long sleeved shirt with horses on the front, some gum, a lighter, a knife, and a new deck of cards with girls on the back” (according to their facebook page).

The Damn Sons ep 01

Their ep 01 is available on iTunes and it shows what a big beautiful noise can be produced by three guys who know what they’re about. Who Want’s More stomps with a vengence, with reverb drenched testifyin’ and roiling guitars. Funky chording opens up Movin’ On sliding into a rolling groove surrounding a careening melody. Riffy mood-rocker Crawl of the Wild is just swimming in swampy juju leading up to a sublime chorus. Lead em to the Shore closes out with a staggered funky beat and chanted refrain. Cool stops/starts and unexpected twists abound throughout the set.

Jens Kuross is one of LA’s more awesome percussionists, at home in multiple genre’s of music and his playing is spare, supple, subtle and savage all at once. Travis Schneider’s got some pretty powerful pipes, (his vox are at times soaring and others times just in-yer-face) and his gutsy guitar lines guide the action with big chord blasts and indelible riffs. Grant Lovelace appears to have joined up on bass after the cd was tracked: he’ll be there with the guys tonight at their Bootleg Theater show. I’m goin, so far I’ve only seen 2 out of the 3 guys at an Unknown Theater show and I’ve been tryin to catch another gig for a while.

With Electro/Indie/Psychedelic band AMERICAN ROYALTY (who are releasing their debut ep tonight) and MINI MANSIONS.

Bootleg Theater
2220 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90057

21+ 8 bucks at the door

doors open 9pm

Mister Nervous: November 16th @ the AIRLINER

Wes — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 22:19:59 +0000

We’re heading back to Lincoln Heights to play at THE AIRLINER next week.
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 16th
2419 N Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90031
We’ll be up first on the main stage upstairs (doors open @ 8pm – we won’t keep you out late – unless you wanna be out late…).
We’ll be playing selections from the DRAMA cd and a new song too!

We’d sure like to see you there.

Good Hurt Wednesday

Wes — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 20:23:30 +0000

Mister Nervous plays the GOOD HURT on Wednesday October 6th @ 11pm. We don’t play the westside very often so here’s your chance (especially if you’re one of those “never east of Bundy” type of people). Our shows at the Viper Room, Bordello and Cranes Tavern rocked pretty damn hard and confidence is high for a kickass set over at the Good Hurt. Contact us to get on the FREE list and save yourself the door-charge ( misternervous@gmail.com or over at FACEBOOK) !!!!

We’ll be playing the DRAMA cd in full so if you haven’t seen us do it live here’s your chance (we may be pulling out a surprise or 2… we’ll see… ). Pick up the cd from us (if you haven’t already done that) or get a cool Mister Nervous t-shirt at the show.
We’ll be adding more new stuff to our shows this fall: Wes has new songs that he’s anxious to get up on the boards.
THE GOOD HURT
12249 Venice Blvd.
West Los Angeles, CA 90066
WEDNESDAY
OCTOBER 6 2010
11pm 21+
FREE
(if you contact us to get on the list)

Cranes Hollywood Tavern 9/20

Wes — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:57:33 +0000

It’s been a year since Mister Nervous played at CRANES?!?

Hard to believe: but last September we were working on the DRAMA cd and played those songs for the first time in public over at Cranes Tavern. Now the cd is out there and the set sounds better every time we play it. Ask anyone who was at the Viper Room or Bordello shows if you don’t believe me.

Tonight we’re heading back over to Cranes to blow the doggone doors off. Yeah, confidence is high. You should probably come on out and see, pick up the CD or a really cool T (yeah, the Mister Nervous t-shirt is the fashion element to be seen in this fall).

It’s the ongoing event HOMEWORK MONDAYS! DJ Ned Casual will be doing his usual thing: spinning roots rock, vintage RnB and blues with impeccable taste (seriously, the guy never plays anything that is not awesome and essential)… and THREE bands:
10pm – Bad Apples Blues Band
11pm – MISTER NERVOUS
12:00 – The Downtown Train

FREE! 21+

CRANES TAVERN
1611 North El Centro Ave
Los Angeles CA
90028

Amanda Jo Williams at Mountain Bar

Wes — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:26:57 +0000

Amanda Jo Williams at the Unknown Theater

“Country girl from outer space” Amanda Jo Williams has been winning over Angelinos with her uncanny ability to project an unfiltered open heart through her cartoonishly vulnerable voice and her spare elemental compositions. She also comes across as disarmingly endearing in many of the bizarre videos on her myspace page. You can see her for free tonight, Thursday Aug 26th at the Mountain Bar. Live shows feature her freaky tribal hilbilly folk band careening through her simple rollicking country grooves with wild unfettered abandon while Amanda sits centerstage with her tiny guitar and big drum unselfconciously doing her thing. Paper Magazine describes a show saying,”Williams strummed A-minor for fifteen minutes straight while her band stomped rhythmically around her backwoods muppet ballideering.”

It’s the emotional whallop her music delivers that makes her more than just another freak in the freak kingdom.”Listening to Amanda Jo Williams’ rough-shod country-folk is like eating a squirrel stew supper before falling into bed, her primal music is an open maw to the mysteries and fears of the world. With a twang-heavy voice that sometimes breaks into manic gibberish, she sounds like an unruly, sometimes lonely little girl left to her own devices.”says the L.A. Times

“My music is basic and simple”, Williams says in her interview with Daiana Feuer on Tumblr, “I do stuff that’s more from space, channeling how aliens would tell us to be when we’re more evolved. Anything is possible. You can see what you want to see when you want to see it, when you are ready to see. When your will is aligned with the universe and what you are born to do, when those things are aligned, you can find the place where you belong.”

"People need music where the artist is honest and themselves."- Amanda Jo Williams

Jeffertitti’s Nile will also bring their “hypnotic river of sound” to Chinatown on the same bill, providing some riffy Beatlesque melodicism and heavily effected sonic extrapolations.

also a live set by Latin Meds (josh charney of le switch is in latin meds)

and DJ Hey Okay!

The Mountain Bar

475 Gin Ling Way

Chinatown

L.A. CA 90012

9pm - 21+

it’s a DRAMATURGY production

Jeffertitti's Nile