Since the 2003 Emergenza final at the Taubertal Festival in Rothenburg a lot has happened for winners Nervous Nellie from Sweden. The band has a new drummer, they’ve toured extensively in Sweden and Europe, released their debut EP and shortly they will set out on a US tour starting when The Vans Warped tour hits Atlanta, Georgia July 28. This is what the band has to say about this past year, their upcoming US tour and the future. Suffice to say it was truly a surprise for us winning the final since we “only” came in second place at the Swedish final in 2003. Just being given the opportunity to play at a real international festival in front of thousands of people was a dream come true! The feeling of getting off that stage after playing our first real festival show ever was indescribable and to hangout and party with all these other amazing bands and people was a tremendous bonus. Also the great instruments received when winning have brought us great joy, the Sterling Music Man bass guitar has been especially good for the band and our sound. It wasn’t over there…Emergenza invited us to Germany for a 3 date showcase tour in November! We played in Berlin, Cologne and Frankfurt and got to try out the whole tour experience for the first time with hotels, new people and fans, clubs and of course very little sleep. We had a blast and hope all bands get to experience what we did! During the spring of 2004 we started our own label Honkyjonx Records and released our debut ep “The Peace Pipe EP” for free on our website www.nervousnellie.com. Promotion wise we have been featured on music tv-channels, in music magazines and fanzines, on independent, commercial and internet radio stations around Europe. We are amazed at the response, thanks to the power of the internet and word of mouth we have even had people download our stuff in Jakarta!? A great help for us has been Claes Nordling at Swedish Showcase in Stockholm, some of you may know him from the Swedish Emergenza rounds and finals (another great contact made thanks to Emergenza!). He set up tours for us in Europe this spring that were a great success, they went so well in fact that shows are already being booked for the fall in various countries. Most exciting right now though is The Vans Warped Tour without a doubt, I don’t think we’ll believe it actually happened until it’s over and we’re back in Sweden up to our armpits in normal, everyday life again! This will truly be a story for the grandchildren, when I was your age I played with Bad Religion in the USA…wow! Thanks to Emergenza and Ernie Ball giving us this opportunity we have managed to promote ourselves better than we would have thought possible. After the 5 dates on the Warped Tour we will set out on an additional week of touring in the USA thanks to no other than Brady Blade who is a musician/record executive who has played with acts such as Bob Dylan, Jewel, Emmylou Harris and Dave Matthews to name few. I know, we don’t believe it either! Right now we are knee deep in writing new material, filming videos, negotiating record deals and touring. We are very hopeful and excited about this fall and the future for Nervous Nellie but at the same time terrified. But as long as we get to play one way or another we’ll be happy, I’m sure of it. Thanks for taking the time to read this and showing interest in us!