DESCRIPTION:
I think it’s about time I come clean.

I don’t know shit about shit. I never really have, especially not from day one of me running this channel. In fact, I’ve only really started to get a clue as to who’s who and what’s what in this dainty little punk community of ours until recently, within these past few months. Prior to that, I was nothing more than an impressionable fan-boy—I still kinda am. Except now, instead of just ogling at punk-things through a pane of glass, I’m actually able to reach out and poke it a little bit. You get what I’m saying? I’m not the same nerd who’d sit around reading punk blogs all day, I’m—now don’t patronize me for saying this—“part” of it. Like, I’m an entity, a good chunk of punks eventually stumble across this stupid channel of mine because I post every other punk band worth its salt here. I’m not talking out of my ass here, I’m just reciting what a number of people tell me: I’m a “resource”, I’m “important”, even a “role model”. I’m usually doubtful of myself, but if you keep telling me the same shit, I’ll eventually believe it: all of those are a hell of a step up from being a nerd with a keyboard anyways. Besides, somebody told me that I’m ruining our punk scene, so if I have enough power to ruin punk for people, that must make me pretty fuckin’ cool, right?

The reason why I’m bringing this up is because I think people have always given me too much credit. Even back when I first started doing this, people thought I was some sort of punk-expert who knew everything about the bands I’d post. I didn’t, I just recited whatever I learned off of other people’s blogs, made by people who actually knew what they were talking about. Despite what you might believe, I don’t even live out in the Midwest; I’m located in the complete opposite side of the country, in fact. So, none of the scenes I write about are even “mine”, per-se. These days, I may have a slight clue as to what’s up, but back then, I sure as hell didn’t. I was--and still am--just some worthless clown. That didn’t stop people from thinking otherwise—I guess that means I’m pretty good at faking it. I think Erik was one of those people. Back before he had even shown Mark and Lumpy his first tape, he introduced himself to me via email as a “kid obsessed with NWI”. He asked for general information about Marky and friends, which I knew a little bit about, and specific contact information for them, which I didn’t know shit about. I said what I could and left it at that. I doubt that I helped in any way, but I like to think that I did. About a week later, he sent me a rip for D.L.I.M.C.’s July cassingle, and told me about how Mark and Lumpy were going to release his tape on their respective labels: more importantly, Erik Hart was now Erik Nervous.

In retrospect, I guess Erik and I have both got similar “success” stories in our sliver of a punk community. Erik listened to shit he liked, he obsessed over it, he eventually sought it out, and now he’s an entity in our scene that’s worth giving a shit about. Similarly, I was a nerd who found cool music, obsessed over it, sought it out, and (accidentally) became popular by sharing it (Some people hate me for it, but they can go stuff it. I don’t see them doing anything better for punk, so who the fuck are you to judge? Go soak your head in some jockstraps, turd). So, I mean, it’s almost like the same thing, right? Except Erik’s regularly exercising his talent and I’m still just a hack with a keyboard, but regardless, it’s almost like the same thing. The similarities probably stop there, seeing that Erik’s a melvin and I’m actually super-cool (I’m paraphrasing from what others tell me, alright?), yet that doesn’t stop me from fawning over the stuff he puts out. So far, he’s put out two tapes, with the first being the “Shipshewana Swimming” demo being released by Lumpy Rex and Records Inc. (as well as a 7” release by Warm Ratio: http://www.warmratio.com/), and the follow-up “Winter Cassingle '16” being issued out on a super-limited self-released run of tapes by Erik himself. There were also two cover tracks that he solitarily released on his Bandcamp page, but I don’t count those as a legitimate release. As of mid-June, we’ve now got Erik’s newest release, “Teen Distortion Art Junk Music”. I’m sure that title took him days to cook up.

[Remaining half of write-up is in the comments.]

TRACK LIST:
Nervous Child – 0:00
I’m A Brick – 1:11
People Falling Over – 2:22
Dollar Store Holiday – 4:43
Short Attention – 6:28
New Potatoes – 7:12
Thing – 9:36

DOWNLOAD: http://eriknervous.bandcamp.com/album/teen-distortion-art-junk-music