Nervis

Guitarist, songwriter and U.S. Army diver Kurt Langley has been playing since he was eight years old. A Los Angeles native, Kurt joined the Army on a dare, pulling the plug on his band Nervis in California. Kurt never stopped playing, even as he settled into his duty station at Fort Eustis, Va., but his experiences, especially two tours in Iraq, dramatically changed his sound and method of creating music.

It was during the second deployment, in 2006, that Kurt was overwhelmed with new inspiration. Most material for Nervis’ second full-length album came to him in one fell swoop. Between missions, Kurt feverishly recorded rough versions of the new material in a sweaty makeshift sound booth at his team’s base of operations.

Here Kurt churned out driving songs like “The Places That Scare You,” “The Replica” and “Tales of Power,” capturing the ambiguity of a soldier’s experience. The music is propelled by the realities of war. The band felt a need to counter the entertainment industry’s unrealistic depiction of U.S. troops. However, Kurt and drummer Jay Marr remain a-political.

Returning home, Kurt teamed up with Marr in a cross-continental project to record and produce “Tales of Power.” Marr, an Air Force brat, has lived all over the world but remains in Los Angeles. He began playing at age 6 when he found a pair of drumsticks in the gutter, and remains an elusive figure.

Later in 2007, Kurt founded Deep Sea Recording, LLC, and the pair e-mailed songs back and forth over the course of a year. “Tales of Power” was complete and released in August 2008. Ten percent of the proceeds are being donated to the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP).

The WWP seeks to assist those men and women of our armed forces who have been severely injured during the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations around the world. Many of the injuries are traumatic amputations, gunshot wounds, burns, and blast injuries that will retire these brave warriors from military service.


 

Nervis

Contact:
Kurt Langley
(757) 685-1506
kurtlangley@nervismusic.com
Site and download: www.nervismusic.com


Press release

Deep Sea Recordings, LLC is pleased to announce the release of Nervis’ second full length album, Tales of Power.
Born in the arid sands of pre-surge Iraq, “Tales of Power” largely draws upon the experience and viewpoint of guitarist-singer-songwriter Staff Sergeant Kurt Langley, a U.S. Army diver.
“There’s been a lot of music about the war,” Kurt said. “But very little from the soldier’s direct point of view. Tales of Power is not political. When I was over there the second time, I just began writing songs in the down time.”
Many of the tracks on the 10-song album were conceived in a 6 x 6 foot makeshift sound studio where his team was based.
In between missions in Iraq, Kurt channeled the emotions of war into new songs.
When he returned a year later, Kurt fine-tuned the tracks and founded Deep Sea Recordings. He began recording and mixing the tracks in his home studio in Surry County, Va., while still serving as a soldier full-time.
He teamed back up with Nervis’ drummer, Jay Marr, in a cross-country recording venture. Jay, still living in Los Angeles, and Kurt e-mailed the songs back and forth, with Fade recording the drums in his own studio. Although the two had worked together as Nervis since 1994, it was the first time they had recorded since Kurt joined the Army in 2000. The album was later mastered by Dave Harris at Studio B Mastering in Charlotte, N.C.
Despite its origins, Tales of Power is not simply a war anthem. While “The Places That Scare You,” “Judgment Day” and “The Replica” reflect a soldier’s visceral experience by coupling grinding industrial influences, pulverizing guitar riffs and traditional Middle Eastern sounds and timing, other tracks have little or no bearing on the war.
In “Frankenstein,” Kurt captured the obsessive and vengeful longing of Mary Shelley’s famous monster, while “Stay With Me” testifies to a shredding, often-hidden side of romance.
However, in recognition of the album’s roots, Nervis is donating 10% of album sales to the Wounded Warrior Project.
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