NERVUS REX – or – “I Was A Caucasian Runner” (1977)

Text © Robert Barry Francos / FFanzeen, 1977/2022
Images from the Internet unless indicted

Nervus Rex – or – “I Was A Caucasian Runner”

Very soon after I had published the article on the Cramps in the first issue of FFanzeen, dated 7/777, Miriam Linna left the band as drummer. She next joined up with artist Shaun Brighton (whose father was a famous painter) and Lauren Agnelli (a rock writer for Creem Magazine with the nom de plume of Trixie A. Balm) to form the core of the Nervus Rex. Bassist Lewis Eklund rounded out the group.

[In a sidebar digression with a weird twist, when I mentioned the Nervus Rex and its members to my clique at Queens College at the time, friend and drummer of The Glands (who wrote the insane “Mutants on Motorcycles”) Richie Shapiro said, “Hey, I know Lauren. We used to date in Cardozo High School!”]

Two days before interviewing the Nervus Rex, I saw their first public performance, opening for the Mumps at CBGB. The set was hot and the songs were riveting, relying on more than just love songs. Even the love songs they did had unusual little bends and twists. I fell in love with their material – popish, but with a razor-sharp edge. That they did “She’s Not There” by the Zombies seemed appropriate, since that was the kind of sound they were achieving.

The loft on Mercer Street where I interviewed the band belonged to Shaun’s father, so I had a chance to see a number of his paintings. I remember rows upon rows of them.

I felt very comfortable with the band.

(photo by Robert Barry Francos)

Nervus Rex – or – “I Was A Caucasian Runner”

Do you believe in omens? The first time I interviewed a group in which Miriam Linna was a member (the Cramps, last ish), the weather was lousy, the tape got wet and all I ended up with was five minutes of recording before the sound died. Now Miriam is in a new group called the Nervus Rex and I interviewed them, September 24, 1977. The weather? Increment. The tape, once again getting wet, went out after five minutes. Is Miriam vexing my tape recorder or the weather? Whatever, it is getting very frustrating.

The new group is really good. I caught their very first pubic performance at CBGB September 22. I liked them from the first soundcheck. For a group that has been together for only a few months – since the middle of July – they are amazing.

Actually, the lead singer / guitarist Shaun Brighton, met rhythm guitarist / singer Trixie A. Balm (yes, the Trixie A. Balm, writer for such papers as Creem and The NY Rocker) at CBGB, where they both hung out, about a year ago. Shaun then met bassist Lewis Eklund on the Staten Island Ferry. Trixie, a Cramps fan, interviewed the group and became friendly with Miriam (which, I might add, is not hard). When Miriam took her leave from the Cramps, Trixie asked her if she wanted to drum for her group. Together, although it’s a little over two months, the combo of Shaun, Trixie, Lewis and, of course, Miriam, is a tight one.

As of right now, their repertoire consists of about ten songs, all of which are amazing (most written by Trixie A. and Shaun). The set I saw (remember, it as their first), consisted of “Duplicators,” “Third World,” “Love Affair,” “Dubrule 1250,” “No Regrets – Sort Of,” “I Love You Or Whatever” (my personal favorite), “December Pledge,” “The Index,” “Rachel In Ruins Again” (my second fave), and for an encore, the Zombie’s great “She’s Not There.” They are practicing some Troggs songs and possibly some Flamin’ Groovies stuff, too.

Walking into their loft on Mercer Street forty-five minutes late, I was soaked from the rain. As I mentioned last time, the stereo was blasting out, now with the brand-new released Talking Heads album (Talking Heads 77). Throughout the interview, many records went on, like some early Beatles (both Shaun and Lewis are avid Beatle freaks – meant kindly – and Shaun even collects Beatle memorabilia, along with really old books and material about art and painters; Shaun claims that “most rockers seem to forget about paintings”) and the Velvet Underground. They agree they like Cale a whole lot, but Lou is tops.

Anyway, some of the interview that survived proceeded thusly:

 

FFanzeen: Have you ever been in any other groups?
Trixie A. Balm: When I was in high school, I was in this group with these guys from Elmont, New York, and we did stuff like, we did Janis Joplin; we did really ridiculous shit, like a Chicago song …

Miriam: [in surprised disgust] You did a Chicago song? A Chicago song!?!
Trixie: One Chicago song.
Miriam: Oh, one Chicago song.
Trixie: It was a pretty bad band. Other than that, I was in this band with Pink Floyd freaks who wanted to do “Astronomy Donomy” and shit like that, and I hated it. No, but off and on in groups in high school. In college I concentrated on writing, but now I’m almost done with college and getting back to music.

FF: Are you going to continue with your writing?
Trixie: Some. Not about music so much, but, you know, fiction and such things.

FF: How long has the group been together?
Trixie: Since July.
Shaun: The middle of July. Trixie and I have been playing together since January.

End of tape.

 

Once again, Miriam makes it quite clear that she hates “punk rock.” By punk rock, she means assholes with the safety pins who then go home and put on bell-bottomed jeans. If you’re gonna be a punk, claims Miriam, be a punk. (The following is a paraphrase) “I saw some guy at CBGB with safety pins all over him and he had on a leather jacket. He accidentally stepped on someone’s foot and turned around and said something like, ‘Oh, excuse me. I’m sorry.’ If you’re really a punk you don’t care and just say, ‘Get out of my way!’“ It’s sort of Miriam’s way to sayin’ that she don’t like poseurs.

When asked about fave movies, such names as What’s Up Tiger Lily (1966), Horror Hotel (1960, aka The City of the Dead), Night of the Living Dead (1968), and The Twonkey (1953; Miriam’s favorite) were brought up. Fave music turned up such names as, of course, the Troggs, the Zombies, the Velvet Underground, Flamin’ Groovies (Miriam’s top fave), Talking Heads, the Seeds, as well as the Everly Brothers (a Trixie fave), the Stones, the Beatles, and Bach (that’s J.S., by the way). As the group was eager to explain, this is how they feel now. It changes week by week, depending on what they are listening to at the time (isn’t that the way it is for all of us?).

The group is pretty cool looking. Of course, there’s Miriam with those dynamite eyes. She was dressed her usual casual way: sweatshirt, sneakers, et. al. Shaun dresses sort of a David Byrne style. Just as comfy as possible. He wore a tee-shirt with a sheet of iron-on letters ironed on. Just the letters (“I couldn’t think of anything to print”). Trixie, with flamin’ red hair, looks really cool. Lewis is basically a quiet type that absorbs everything. He tells how, for a while, he shut himself off musically to everything except the Stones and the Beatles, and is coming out of it now with just the opposite reaction. He goes to an uptown library and takes out ten of any type albums (except d***o), listens to them and then returns them a week later so he can take out ten more.

All their personalities overlap in such a way that they seem to be very compatible and comfortable with each other, which also makes the music seem that more real. I have to admit that I really enjoy listening to them play. A whole lot. And it seems I’m not the only one. When they did their sound check on that night (“Rachel”), they got a loud round of applause. This caught them a little by surprise. Trixie even exclaimed, pleasantly baffled, “It’s only a soundcheck!” When they finally did play, the place was not yet crowded, since it was the Mumps that was headlining, and they would not be on for a couple of hours at least; but those who were there were not disappointed. Far from it.

Saving this part for last in the interview, I asked Miriam about her break from the Cramps a few months back. She said that she missed some warning signs, like the group telling her to ease off her writing a bit and tone down her fan-manship, regarding some of the other groups, and to pay more attention to her own. Finally, they told her to choose between the two and she left. Unfortunately, the split was not on friendly terms. But time heals wounds. The Cramps have a new drummer and Miriam has the Nervus Rex (and visa versa) and all are happy in their niche. Now the Nervus Rex has nowhere to go but up. Ten to one they have a record out by this time next year – on a major label!

Last, for those interested, Miriam is now prez of the International Flamin’ Groovies Fan Club and has this really terrif fanzine called The Flamin’ Groovies Monthly. Look for Miriam’s article in FFanzeen #3 about the Groovies. It’ll be in unless Miriam’s power has the same effect on my typewriter has she does on my tape recorder.

After the Groovies fanzine, she would co-produce with Billy Miller one of the best fanzines the scene has seen, Kicks!

Some time, not too long after this interview, Miriam left the Nervus Rex to join Billy Miller in the Zantees, who in future incarnations would become the very-roots-rockin’ A-Bones. She would be replaced on drums in the Nervus Rex by Jonathan Gildersleeve. Together, the new band would release a single in 1978 called “Don’t Look,” which was not played on either of the nights I saw them perform (the other being at Max’s Kansas City). Lewis would also depart, with Dianne Athey filling his spot.

Three years after the interview (1980), the band put out an overproduced, eponymous-titled pop album on Mike Chapman’s Dreamland Records that seriously blunted their edge through overproduction, with high gloss and minimum bristle. While a decent, re-recorded version of “Don’t Look” was present, missing were all the songs they had performed that first night at CBGB, lost to the ages. The cover of the LP looked like something out of a John Hughes / Molly Ringwald movie, with cotton candy coloring and a style that was destined to be very shortly out of date.

Shaun changed his name to Shawn, and formed a band called The Puppets, which had a hit dance song “The Way of Life” which, in my opinion, sounds like many British synth bands from the 1980s. He is now an artist and art dealer.

Lauren followed this group with the innovative root rockers The Washington Squares, with Bruce Paskow (d. 1994) and Tom Goodkind (d. 2019 of 9/11-related causes). Ahead of their time by just a twinge, they dissolved when Paskow suddenly passed away, though Agnelli and Goodkind would reunite for occasional gigs. Next up was a stint with Teenage Head and Hamilton, Ontario, heartthrob Dave Rave Des Roches, including the Dave Rave Conspiracy, and Agnelli and Rave. Lauren has also shown up with a collection of torch songs, mostly originals, called Love Always Follows Me on the BongoBeat imprint. She has since become a teacher, in the wilds of New England. She has not lost her spark.