The Ledge #83: Nervebreakers Guitarist Mike Haskins

Whenever I make it up to Minneapolis, I inevitably spend a few hours at my favorite record stores. During a break from following the Color Me Obsessed film crew last summer, I made my way over to Treehouse Records across from my favorite Minneapolis bar, The CC Club. In fact, I probably had a cocktail or two before I spent too much money on music.
On this venture, a magazine that I had never heard of caught my eye. Ugly Things was the name of the publication, and The Kinks were featured on the cover. Flipping through it, I discovered the rag was chock full of bands that looked like "Scott Music" but I was aware of only a few of the acts features. Yes, I had to have this.
It wasn't until months later that I cracked open the 200 page magazine, and was immediately hooked on an article regarding a late 70's band from Dallas called The Nervebreakers. Along with telling the story of the band's creation of seminal revved-up versions of late 60's psych-garage, the story also talked about opening for the Sex Pistols, Ramones, and John Cale. They also were Roky Erickson's backup band for awhile, which resulted in a must-have live album that has been repackaged a number of times over the years.
Thanks to ebay and Realpunkradio head honcho Jason Snyderman, I acquired most of the band's catalog in the next few months, including quite a few unreleased studio and live cuts. Jason also hooked me up with guitarist Mike Haskins, who joins me on this week's episode of The Ledge. Along with talking about the history of The Nervebreakers, Mike also told me stories about his first concert (The Who in '67), his life in music before and after The Nervebreakers, and the process of songwriting.
Haskins also corrected me in the pronunciation of Roky Erickson. For years I thought it was Ro-kee. Nope. It's Rocky, and I'm such an idiot I even repeated my error a few minutes later.
For more information on Haskins and The Nervebreakers, check out nervebreakers.com and mikehaskins.wordpress.com. Mike was also in charge of this week's playlist, which is a fantastic overview of his music career. This show is a must listen, so download it through iTunes, Stitcher, or directly here!
1. The Nervebreakers, Face Up To Reality
2. The Mike Haskins Experience, Nothin' To Lose But Your Mind
3. The Nervebreakers, My Girlfriend Is a Rock
4. The Mike Haskins Experience, Walk Across the Sun
5. The Nervebreakers, Strange Movies
6. Diamonds Forever, 5 Minutes w/Diamonds Forever
7. Rock Erickson & The Nervebreakers, Starry Eyes
8. Tex and the Saddletramps, Ever Spent the Night in Jail?
9. The Nervebreakers, My Life is Ruined
10. The Big Guns, Pistol Packin' Preacher
11. The Nervebreakers, Hijack the Racio
12. The Idiots, 6 Minutes w/The Idiots
13. The Big Guns, See Me Thru
14. The Big Gundown, Maybe One Maybe Nine
15. The Nervebreakers, Why Am I So Flipped?
16. The Big Gundown, El Gato Lobo