This pop/punk debut release from yet another Bay Area garage band, self-titled "Nerf Herder," joins the races with the rest of the bands of this genre with releases over the past few months. But "Nerf Herder's" success is one of those great rock-n-roll Cinderella stories where the underfinanced, underexposed band on the unheard of label comes from nowhere to create a major stir. The owner of Nerf Herder's small label (My Records) walked into a specialty show at San Francisco modern rock station "Live 105" and asked for one listen - and one listen to the band's song "Van Halen" is all it took.
With the help of enthusiastic "Live 105" staff, word spread to other influential modern rock stations, all of whom also got immediate listener interest. The ensuing attention landed "Nerf Herder" a deal with ARISTA. Three weeks after signing, "Van Halen" was on 100 radio stations around the country, and Howard Stern is singing it on the air.
Parry Gripp (guitarist), Steve Sherlock (drummer) and Charlie Dennis (bassist) came up with the unusual name for their band from a not so flattering line spoken by Princess Leia in "The Empire Strikes Back" when she calls Han Solo a "half-witted, scruffy looking nerf herder." Of course the band "Nerf Herder" is anything but scruffy. They don the typical garb of other nerdy pop/punk bands like the "Descendents" and "MxPx."
Although they got their Big Break from the song "Van Halen," there are much better tracks on this album, starting with the first one - "Down on Haley." According to their bio, what sets "Nerf Herder" apart are the lyrics with their clever commentary on alterna-culture icons, nerds and losers. The lyrics ARE pretty creative and even worth a chuckle or two. Parry Gripp wrote the song "Sorry" after discovering he was always apologizing to his girlfriend. The resulting lyrics are really funny. The guy in "Golf Shirt" tries to convince a girl that the tattooed rocker she fancies is really not for her. Then there's the 90's icon and love object of romantic musings in "Nosering Girl." The songs dedicated to the "girl" names, "Diana" and "Annalee" are nice little romantic longing tracks.
Lead singer Parry Gripp hasn't always written funny songs, but once the band started playing live, "I could tell what made people laugh, and it felt good, so I went in that direction." In live performances the quick witted singer often changes lyrics to fit certain audience members.
All in all this is a fun album and a worthy first effort. My reason for not rating it higher is really a combination of things. The market has been glutted with pop/punk releases in the last few months, most of which are as good as or better than, "Nerf Herder." I also didn't feel the energy emanating from this band that I do from some of the other bands in the same genre. The lyrics are clever, but not up to par with some of the others I've heard recently. Still, if you're a pop/punk fan, you'll like this album. It's a bit different and it does have it's high moments.
