Your Best Nightmare is the Kind of Nightmare that I’d Wish on My Kids
I still remember being stoked to see Eddie Vedder on his ukulele tour, and then I got sick and couldn’t make the show. From that point on ukulele went deep into the recesses of my mental filing cabinet of short lived diy musical styles. Since then I have recorded a great horror punk band in Florida that uses a ukulele, Swear Wolf, with a live album pending, discovered The ukulele punk rock of the Maragert Hooligans from Philly and now found out about Your Best Nightmare who use horror themes, punk rock soul and a ukulele to make some damn fine music.
Based out of NJ, I could see Your Best Nightmare aka Erin Porter, in an old school issue of Weird NJ. The new self-title EP is full of wit, just the right amount of snarky insults, coupled with horror themes and just plain fucking catchy songs!
The first song, “Vampire Lover” - I can’t be the only person that thinks this would have been a rad song to hear during a scene of True Blood. Not only does she ask if the lover is worth killing for, Erin offers up the whole fucking town: “I’d murder the town if that’s what you’d prefer”. It’s sung in such a pleasant way that you almost miss the malevolence of it. Almost
“Really Cute” - Digging the danceable drum rhythm at the start. Oh damn. I love this song! So many great lyrics: “Talk down to me baby, that’s just how I like it” “Make me feel worthless compared to you cause that’s just really cute” How much do you enjoy listening to your partner argue with the waiter about their fucking salad or how shitty their IPA is while also being talked over and told that your opinion is shit? If you’ve been there and done that, then this is the song for you. If you’re the assclown, then this song's for you too–listen well and then knock that shit off. These are lyrics that are delivered with the same happy singable melodies that Dancehall Crashers did on albums like Lockjaw.
“Eyeliner” - This sounds like the sequel to “Really Cute” where the singer finally takes that revenge by slapping that smug smile off their face. The singer is no longer daydreaming about killing their partner, as mentioned in the previous track, they’ve shown what they’re capable of i.e. murder most foul!
“Paint the Town Red” - The classic song about being a misfit in a world full of normals. Have you ever felt like an outsider but had that one person that you could enjoy the world with that got you? This song is for that person. This is for you and everyone else that knows that one good friend that gets you is better than 50 who don’t really get you.
“Ghost Town Love” - A love song for fans of movies like True Romance or Bram Stoker's Dracula. Once again the chorus just kills! The verse is interesting, but when the chorus kicks in, it just hooks you.
I feel like it should go without saying that I’d love to have Your Best Nightmare come to the Hudson Valley for a show, so I could see this all live.
You can pre-save the songs here: https://orcd.co/yourbestnightmare
Check their songs out on these DCxPC Live Playlists too:
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