Catchy from start to finish, this new split 10” featuring Nerve Button (Moncton, NB) and Barbed Wire Braces (Hamilton, ON) is a must have.
Matt Carter
Hopefully 2018 will be the year I make it out to a Nerve Button show. Between the group’s five members, their collective musical lineage spans more than three decades, countless releases and an equal amount of rowdy performances. With this in mind, Nerve Button, though only a few years old, is a pretty important band in my opinion. They’ve seen it all, have done most of it and somehow, they continue to find new inspiration.
On this release, Nerve Button deliver three up-tempo tracks of good old rock and roll with an unmistakable punk rock edge. With only three songs to play with, the band made effective use of their 6 minute running time. Baltic Bop and Who’s That Girl are a couple of fast-paced love songs paired with an expected dose of good humour. The band dig a little deeper into their 70s punk influence with the last track, Oh Well, clocking in at just 49 seconds. A highly entertaining listen that leaves me wanting more, and more and more Nerve Button in my life.
The album’s flipside features four tracks from Hamilton street punks, Barbed Wire Braces. If Nerve Button’s sound could be compared to early Canadian punk bands like Forgotten Rebels and The Modernettes, Barbed Wire Braces channel punk’s angrier side in the vein of The Exploited, G.B.H. and the like, tackling fascism, nuclear war and the general fucked-up state of world affairs with songs like Never Again, Imminent Attack and Urban Violence. But despite the drastic differences between the two bands, the complement works surprisingly well. You can dance and shake your fist with equal enthusiasm.
All in all, this is a stand-out release. The contrast is perfect, the guitars are loud, the bands are tight, and it’s all over in 15 minutes. What more could you want?
Nerve Button | FACEBOOK | BANDCAMP
Barbed Wire Braces | FACEBOOK | BANDCAMP
