Interview with Brad Hallen (Nervous Eaters)

On this special interview episode of the Banned Biographies podcast,  Tom Austin-Morgan talks to the bassist of the Boston-based garage punk band Nervous Eaters, Brad Hallen.

This episode largely deals with the new single, Wild Eyes, and upcoming album, Monsters & Angels, as well as about Brad’s life an career to this point, and boy has he had a career! He's played with so many bands and artists including Ministry, Iggy Pop, Elliot Easton (The Cars),  Jane Wiedlin (The Go-Go's), Aimee Mann, Susan Tadeschi , Monster Mike Welch, Duke Robillard, Roomful of Blues and so many others.

Formed in the mid-70's, 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 band’s original drummer, the late Jeff Wilkinson, let the band rehearse in his family’s basement. “His mother, Florence, fed the band at these rehearsals. Band leader, Steve Cataldo explained: “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.”

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.

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. 

The original Eaters dissolved but came back in the mid- ‘80s with a new line-up. 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.

The band has been revived a few times over the years with various line-ups. The current version of the Nervous Eaters formed in 2018 and includes three other Boston rock veterans, bassist Brad Hallen (who you’re about to learn all about), drummer David McLean (of Willie Alexander’s Boom Boom Band) and guitarist/vocalist Adam Sherman (of Private Lightning), and between them, they have recorded and/or toured with such artists as Ministry, Iggy Pop, Aimee Mann, Jane Wiedlin, Susan Tedeschi, Jimmie Vaughan, Lenny Kaye and many others.

You can find Nervous Eaters at their website: nervouseaters.net, on Facebook and Instagram and you can find Brad Hallen at his website bradhallen.com

This interview was made possible thanks to Peter Ferioli at Pantheon Podcasts and Mike Cubillos at Earshot Media and I’m incredibly grateful to them.

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