It may seem like Californian pop-punk trio Nerf Herder are on their way to soaring heights of fame. But don't believe the hype. Nerf Herder does not live up to that reputation in their latest album.
Until very recently and surely very soon again, the band wallowed in obscurity.
"It all happened so fast," observes guitar player and vocalist Parry Gripp. "It was only about a year and a half ago that we made a demo to give to our friends, and that seemed like a big deal."
The band achieved fame by walking into a Californian radio station, asking for their song "Van Halen" to be aired just once. Listener response was good, and soon the band was signed onto Arista Records.
Perhaps the executives at Arista thought that "nerd rock," played by bands like Weezer, was the next big thing. Nerf Herder should prove them wrong.
Instead of clever or lovably pathetic, the band is just irritating. Gripp's whiny, simpering vocals are annoying while the chord progressions are hopelessly derivative of other, better bands.
"There is no one influence on Nerf Herder!" proudly exclaims the Arista Records website. In fact this is true -- there are two influences, a little bit of NOFX and a lot of Weezer.
Nerf Herder takes the worst parts of both of these bands and fuses them into their own semi-distinct brand of wimpyness and triteness. Even the band's name indicates a lack of taste.
Apparently the members of Nerf Herder thought it would be cool to jump on the let's-gut-"Star-Wars"-for-all-its-worth marketing band wagon -- the name Nerf Herder itself derives from "The Empire Strikes Back," in which princess Leia calls Han "a scruffy looking nerf herder."
The songs on Nerf Herder's self titled debut album are as ill conceived as the name of the band itself. While the songs are supposed to be clever, they end up insipid at best and unbearably vexatious at worst.
It is clear from the lyrics and song composition that Nerf Herder is composed solely of the kind of guys that even the nice kids picked on in high school.
Nerf Herder acts as if being a nerd is the cool thing to do, as if it is its own excuse.
"I'm not the one who played in a high school hardcore band!" whines Gripp in the tune "Golfshirt." "But when you're tired of all the jerks, you'll long for my golfshirt."
Gripp bases this song on the well known fact that all hardcore band members are jerks, and that girls really like effeminate, boring men who wear golfshirts.
"Van Halen" is easily the best tune on Nerf Herder's debut album, although the lyrics once again give evidence to a twisted state of mind, in which being a nerd is in fact being cool.
"I bought 'Van Halen I,' it was the best record I ever owned," squeals Gripp, as if this confession somehow made his infatuation with rock 'n roll dinosaurs Van Halen cool.
Indeed, most of the songs on "Nerf Herder" are about embarrassing self-admissions or the fact that the band members of Nerf Herder can not seem to find girlfriends. Drummer Steve Sherlock seems to have particular trouble in this arena, and most of the songs are about his experiences.
Of course, Nerf Herder's newfound fame has not changed them a bit. It is important for their newfound legions of fans to know that they are still just as dorky as ever.
"We're not trying to be some big deal, we're just the same guys who met in Perry's garage and started [tooling] around," claims bass player Charlie Dennis. Naturally fame never changes anyone.
But listeners to Nerf Herder's first album need not worry that the band turn into hardcore jerks. Their fame will be short lived, and once the excitement has died down they can go back to their regular golf shirt wearing days.
