I'm downstairs doing the pinball rock, and I can hear this total whiskey-drinking, shit-kicking rock and roll, so I head up top to check it out - holy fuck, it's the Nuclears, this shit's coming outta those long-haired kids I just met a minute ago. The dude's singin' about, “Baby, baby, baby, don't do me like that.” Bad ass. And their guitar player, Eddie Van Halen protégé, God, the kid must practice like twenty-three hours a day.
- Mike Watt (the Minutemen, the Stooges)
Somehow, in a musical climate dominated by formulaic product mass-marketed for disposable consumption and vaguely smug "indie" art that you're probably not hip enough to get, the act of getting out there and playing rock 'n' roll is even more revolutionary now than it was when it ruled the airwaves. We weren't really thinking of that when we started the band back in high school. It was partly about becoming slightly more appealing to girls, and partly about getting into bars underage, but ultimately it was just about doing what we love. When we moved up from D.C. to Brooklyn and finally solidified our line-up, though, seeing the response to our live show made us realize how many people out there are on the same wavelength as us. All the energy we throw out, they throw it right back. We play and they dance. It's really exciting, and most importantly, it's all happening right now.
At one point or another, everyone's echoed the sentiment Brian Wilson set to music way back in 1966: "I just wasn't made for these times." We've all dreamed of being in that dingy basement club in Liverpool or that muddy field in Woodstock. We've all wished we could've taken a walk on the wild side with Holly from Miami FLA or gotten hopped up and ready to go with Sheena the punk rocker. We've all wanted to lose our minds in Detroit Rock City and freak out in a Moonage Daydream. Hell, by comparison, even 1991 Seattle and 2001 London end up looking better than the Here and Now.
But Here and Now is where it’s at, and the big thing that we all forget sometimes is that it's always been that way. All of those things we feel like we missed out on didn't just happen out of thin air. The historic moments and wild scenes and legendary bands weren't a product of their times, their times were a product of them. So instead of wishing we were someplace else, let’s make something happen that kids 30 years from now can look back at and say, "I wish I was there." That's what the five of us are trying to do every single time we hit a stage or cut a track. We just need you there with us.
Hail, hail, rock 'n' roll!
Brian, Bobby, Mick, Nick, and Geoff
The Nuclears
