Nervous Eaters “Vampire”

Boston rock pioneers Nervous Eaters return with another new single, “Vampire,” which offers up plenty of sharp hooks and jangly guitars. B-side “Knockdown Day” is a slower-tempo track that evokes feelings of longing and reflection.

Founding member and front man Steve Cataldo sets the scene for “Vampire”: “In a once vibrant town, business by day, swinging by night, always had its own unique rhythm. Strange and without reason, the pace of the small bustling California borough, somehow slowed to an unearthly rhythm. Most of the young people gathered on the village green every Friday night. Hundreds of candles lit the surrounding walkways, creating a festive vibe to the weekly affair. Gradually the areas fresh crisp evening air bit by bit changed to a dank mist ushered in by a ghostly vermilion wind. Winding its way down the country streets, forcing the young Rooks back to their homes, encased within a false security as they morphed into harbingers of tomorrow. Acting as if the coming dawn would be their savior, people finally came out of the homes to investigate the sudden perturbation. Simultaneously, a synchronous fear befell the entire crowd as, The Beautiful Stranger’s mysteriously haunting trance beguiled the village. The Witch, “with shaded eyes”, her infectious yet imperceptible hypnotizing glances, compelling anyone, everyone, to follow her spectral sway. Captive to the Vampire’s ministering Dominion hosting parties by day, slaves to her by night. “Sundown is her town, Everyone is going down”
Such is the premise of Vampire.”

Of the B-side “Knockdown Day”, guitarist/vocalist Adam Sherman says, “Isolation and the feeling of being left out of the party are at the heart of “Knockdown Day”. Rest assured, a knockdown is temporary. We pick ourselves up and face tomorrow with humility and optimism.”

‘Monsters + Angels’ marked a welcome return for the 4-piece, and “Why You Tell’N Me Now” along with the band’s other recent singles (“Talkk”, “Kelly’s Sixteen”) further prove that they are as relevant as ever.

The Nervous Eaters are an original rock and roll band from Boston, MA who helped define the Boston underground garage/punk rock scene of the late 70’s. The band was formed by Steve Cataldo on the North Shore of Boston in Beverly, MA.
Fueled by the raw sounds of Link Wray, early Chicago Blues greats and British guitar legends Beck, Clapton and Page, the Nervous Eaters created a raw edgy song style uniquely their own. The band consisted of Steve Cataldo lead vocals and lead guitar, Stanley Clarke vocals and rhythm guitar, Rob Skeen vocals and bass guitar and Jeff Wilkinson on drums.

The Nervous Eaters would eventually become the house band for the legendary Boston punk rock club The Rat, where they established themselves as a leading punk rock band in the Northeast, playing with a who’s who of punk and new wave luminaries, including The Police, The Ramones, The Cars, Patti Smith, Dead Boys, Iggy Pop, The Stranglers, Go-Go’s and many others.

The Cars’ Ric Ocasek produced the band’s original demos, which got the band signed to Elektra Records, and they went on to tour around the world. However, after a series of poor decisions on the part of the label, their major label debut album failed to deliver on the promise of their legendary live shows.

After dissolving the band, Nervous Eaters returned in the mid-80’s and has been revived over the years with various lineups.

The current version of the Nervous Eaters formed in 2018 and includes three other Boston rock vets, bassist Carissa Johnson, (Winner of New Act of the Year Award, Boston Music Awards and Boston’s legendary Rock n Roll Rumble), drummer David McLean (of Willie Alexander’s Boom Boom Band) and guitarist/vocalist Adam Sherman (of Private Lightning), and between them, they have toured with Iggy Pop, The Ramones, The Pretenders, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Lenny Kaye and many others.

Upcoming Shows:

Saturday, March 23 @ NYC Berlin Under A (with Palmyra Delran, Marc Valentine, The Jellybricks)

Saturday April 20 Narrows Center, Fall River w/ Robin Lane

Friday April 26 The Cellar on Treadwell, Hamden, CT w/Nails Hide Metal

Thursday May 16 Sonia, Cambridge open for The Dead Boys

Friday June 14 Fallout Shelter, Norwood

Saturday September 7 The Music Room

Friday September 13 The Rockwood Music Hall, Boston w/Tiger Bomb

Saturday September 14 Alchemy, Providence, RI w/Tiger Bomb

What can a poor boy do? Except to sing for a rock ‘n’ roll band?”

Mick Jagger posed that question back in 1968 and he’s certainly answered it over the years by steadily touring with the Rolling Stones: Keep singing for a rock ‘n’ roll band. It’s still a pretty fun job. Maybe an essential job. Retirement is not an option.

The same goes for Steve Cataldo, whose band, the Nervous Eaters, has delivered this new 10-track album – MONSTERS & ANGELS and it’s released on Stevie Van Zandt’s label, Wicked Cool Records.

“Where would many bands be today without Mick Jagger and his guitar-slinging partner Keith Richards?” says Cataldo, singer, guitarist, songwriter, producer. Jagger has a few years on Cataldo, but both grew up with the same Rock, Blues and R&B roots, Cataldo continues to ply the rock ‘n’ roll trade. He must ply the trade.

“It’s what I know,” Cataldo says, simply. “I’ve been doing it since I was 12. I started out on the drums, but didn’t have enough control so I moved to guitar and started singing and writing. You get out there and do it. It doesn’t matter what vein of rock ‘n’ roll you’re in. If you’re creating art, it’s just in your system and that’s what you do.”

“I’m not a physicist or doctor – you know, the things your parents would like you to grow up to be,’ Cataldo adds. “I’m like a little grasshopper that fiddled his summer away in the Nervous Eaters”.

BEGINNING: Cataldo’s lifetime of summer fiddling began on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where he was born and once again lives. Cataldo was in lots of bands, on the Cape and on Boston’s North Shore and the one that stuck around – in various incarnations over the years – that raves on – is the Nervous Eaters.

BAND NAME: The band’s original drummer, the late Jeff Wilkinson, and the band rehearsed in his family’s basement. “His mother, Florence, was a great lady and she fed the band a lot,” Cataldo explains. “We’d come up from the basement at different times to grab something to eat and she said, ‘Why don’t you all come up and sit down and have a meal? You’re such a bunch of nervous eaters.’ So, it stuck. It wasn’t the coolest name to hit the town, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. We had a good laugh over it and we loved Florence. We are the Nervous Eaters.”

STARTING OUT: The early Eaters were just a bunch of insane kids. “In our youth, the Nervous Easters spent a lot of time driving old cars held together by duct tape and speaker wire,” says Cataldo. “Gear in the back and on the roof. We played everywhere. We were just too young and stupid to know fear and too jazzed up on the life of rock ‘n’ roll to worry about anything. We just had to play. You didn’t have bills, just balls. The next song, next gig, next record, next guitar, next girlfriend, THE NEXT LIFE.”

THE EARLY DAYS – The band launched in the mid 1970’s and were a leading punk rock band in the Northeast. Home base: The black-walled, sticky-floored, basement club in Boston’s Kenmore Square – The Rat. The Eaters played snarling, self-deprecating lust-for-life blasts like Shit for Brains, Get Stuffed, Last Chance, Just Head, and I’m a Degenerate. Their first release a 45, on Rat Records, 1976, which gained local and national college airplay for their classic single – Loretta.

“Loretta was irresistible,” says Oedipus, former program director and legendary DJ at Boston rock powerhouse, WBCN. “You jumped around the dance floor when they played it live or when you heard it on the radio. Live, they were great and Steve was such an energizing front man.”

The buzz built and their popularity grew. The Cars’ Ric Ocasek produced a demo tape which got the band signed to Elektra Records. They toured around the world – but the album stalled, going astray from the start with the wrong assigned label producer and a lack of follow-through. As Cataldo says, “Mistakes were made. To quote Shakespeare ‘It is not in the Stars to hold our Destiny but in ourselves. (That’s Julius Caesar in Julius Caesar.)”

The original Eaters dissolved but came back in the mid- ‘80s with a new lineup. The reborn Eaters launched a salvo called HOT STEEL AND ACID in 1986, a far better disc (that sounded like the band), on the indie label Ace of Hearts. Producer Rick Harte captured the Eaters vicious, vintage punk sound and it went as far as a Boston indie could take it.

Cataldo’s passion and drive never waned. He needed to keep seeking, playing, writing, couldn’t stop, didn’t know how or why to stop.

THE NEXT LIFE: The current version of the Nervous Eaters formed in 2018 and includes three other Boston rock vets, bassist Brad Hallen (of Ministry, Ric Ocasek and The Joneses), drummer David McLean (of Willie Alexander’s Boom Boom Band) and guitarist/vocalist Adam Sherman (of Private Lightning).

The Nervous Eaters are

Steve Cataldo Lead vocals, lead guitars, keyboards and percussion

Carissa Johnson bass, vocals and percussion

Adam Sherman guitars and vocals

David McLean drums and percussion

Additional musicians

Brooks Milgate Piano and Organ

Jack Gauthier Vocals

Lou Cataldo Vocals

Murray Keyboards and vocals

-Official bio