Nervus Rex

Nervus Rex was an American new wave pop band, whose roots were in the New York City independent music scene, its members frequenting clubs such as CBGB and Max's Kansas City. After Lauren Agnelli answered an ad for a "CBGB type band" in The Village Voice, she and Shaun Brighton met one night at CBGB and discovered a connection in a mutual appreciation of bands such as Talking Heads, the Cramps, and the Velvet Underground. Agnelli was working at the time as a rock critic for The Village Voice and Creem magazine under the pen name Trixie A. Balm. Soon joined by Miriam Linna, drumming for the Cramps at the time, and later Jonathan Gildersleeve, Nervus Rex started to develop an uptempo pop sound focusing on driving surf guitar twang and danceable rhythms.