The Nerves : The Nerves (EP)

IT'S GOOD TO HEAR YOUR VOICE

YOU KNOW IT'S BEEN SO LONG

IF I DON'T GET YOUR CALLS,

THEN EVERYTHING GOES WRONG

 The Nerves 

were an American

 Power Pop/ Punk trio,

 formed in

 San Francisco

 in 1974 

and later based

 in Los Angeles, 

featuring guitarist

 Jack Lee,

 bassist 

Peter Case, 

and drummer 

Paul Collins.

 All three members 

composed songs

 and sang. 

They managed an

 international tour

 in the U.S. 

and Canada, 

including dates

 with

 The Ramones,

 and performances

 for the troops

 as part of the 

United Services Organization

 (USO).

Career

The Nerves 

lasted a short time 

and self-released 

one self-titled 

four-song EP

 in 1976,

 featuring the songs 

"Hanging on the Telephone" 

 "When You Find Out" 

 "Give Me Some Time"

  and 

"Working Too Hard" 

 In addition to being

 the drummer, 

Paul Collins

 was also the trio's

 manager 

and did most 

of the bookings

 and promotion. 

The Nerves' EP

 was distributed by

 independent

 Bomp! Records

 and officially 

re-released on CD

 and vinyl 

by Alive Records

 in 2008,

 followed by

 a second release

 of 

The Breakaways,

 an album of 

post-Nerves

 recordings 

made by Collins 

and Case

 prior to the

 formation of

 Collins' group

 the Beat.

Despite their limited lifespan

 and discography,

 the Nerves' 

members and songs

 found later success. 

The group was an 

early part of 

the Los Angeles

 punk and pop scenes

 that eventually 

produced

 the Knack,

 the Beat 

and

 the Plimsouls. 

After the Nerves' break-up,

 Case and Collins

 formed the Breakaways 

with Pat Stengl,

 a group that would have

 an even 

shorter lifespan

 than the Nerves. 

Thereafter, however, 

Case and Collins

 went on to front 

other groups,

 the Plimsouls 

who had a

 Billboard Top 100 hit 

with

 "A Million Miles Away"

 and the Beat, 

respectively. 

"Hanging on the Telephone" 

was covered by

 Blondie

 on their album 

Parallel Lines

 which reached 

the top 5

 in the UK, 

and has since been 

covered by other groups 

such as L7,

 Def Leppard,

 Cat Power

 whose version was

 featured in

 Cingular commercials in 2006,

 and

 Hep Alien, 

Lane Kim's 

fictional band on

 dramedy 

The Gilmore Girls. 

Blondie included a

 second Lee composition

 on 

Parallel Lines, 

"Will Anything Happen?"

 Lee also went on

 to write a hit for

 Paul Young, "

Come Back and Stay".

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