PHOTO BY MIKE MCLAUGHLIN
Jersey Shore-based Nervous Triggers’ are not your typical punk rock in that they’ll use a quirky organ to get their point across and have fun doing it, while also making extremely overt political statements in the context of far more entertaining-sounding music. The digital release of their four-song debut EP, “Do the Drool,” was timed to coincide with inauguration of Donald Trump, as the bulk of the lyrical content of the songs deals with the issues surrounding his election and presidency. Physical copies of the EP recently were released on CD and cassette, and fans of fun-sounding political punk-rock will want to pick up a copy.
Recorded by Chris Pierce at his Volume IV studio in New Brunswick, "Do the Drool" kicks off with a “Batman” theme-inspired title track that warns against a rising tide of fascism with its tongue placed firmly in cheek. The song’s humor balances the weight of its subject much better than the scales of justice.
Alternative Tentacles’ Jello Bialfra, who’s mined Jersey before for Buzzkill, would love the Dead Kennedys-like “Zero-State Solution,” a lyrical video for which recently was added to YouTube. The song questions the priorities placed on physical and spiritual borders between people, and how by enforcing these borders, or fighting over differences in nationality and religion, we become a party to atrocities. “Zero-State” features guest vocals by Sayuri Gomez, former singer of the hardcore band Teen Wolves, writer of the Amor y Sacrificio zine, and a vocal activist on immigrants' rights and queer, Latinx, and feminist issues.
Another guest on the EP is Marisa Berquist, whose fun organ bolsters the title track, as well as the surf-rockin’ “The Final War,” a poke in the eye to those who foolishly pursue peace through hate and violence rather than love or at least a little diplomacy. The closing “Bricks & Mortars” is hard-core hillbilly rant in the vein of Tiger Army or The Living End that looks at the civil unrest our government’s increasingly unsound policies have unraveled. If they clear away the tables at Crossroads in Garwood, you will enjoy moshing to that tune on June 29 when Nervous Triggers play with Lost In Society, Chris Brown, Doug Zambon of The Vansaders, and Chris Skel of The Skels.
Additional shows include July 22, Sunnyvale, Brooklyn, N.Y.; July 29, The Tusk, Philadelphia, and July 31 at The Wonder Bar’s Happy Mondays in Asbury Park with Shut Up, The Turnbucklers and Bigbutt. Of course, the big news is that Nervous Triggers once again have been tapped to play The Fest 16 in late October in Gainesville, Fla., with other Jersey acts ScreamingFemales, Mikey Erg,Jared Hart, The Scandals, Scary Stories, and Keep Flying. It’ll mark their second appearance in as many years.
Bob Makin is the reporter at www.MyCentralJersey.com/entertainment and a former managing editor and still a contributor to The Aquarian Weekly, which launched this column in 1988. Contact him at makinwaves64@yahoo.com.
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