Description
Nerds & Music is a folk-parody duo from Newcastle NSW. Composed of Clark Gormley and Wayne Thompson, the Nerds paired up in late 2007 and are building a following through their comedic performances around Newcastle’s beer gardens, street fairs and Folk Clubs in the area.
Nerds & Music have also performed at the 2016 National Folk Festival, Illawarra Folk Festival, and numerous St Albans Folk Festivals. They once briefly conversed in passing with none other than Fred Smith (a career highlight).
Nerds & Music have released two soon-to-be-critically-acclaimed albums, All At Sea and Courage In The Face Of Absurdity, and are procrastinating on their third album.
The Nerds’ style could best be described as folk-comedy. Performing entirely original songs, Nerds & Music aim to reveal the semiotic truths behind everyday existence by forensically dissecting subjects such as mowing the lawn, mumbling and the colour brown. Clark brings to the duo a reputation for witty poetry and songwriting, a legacy of his long courtship with the written word. Wayne is a more recent resident in the world of songwriting, and brings his ‘less is more’ sensibility to the duo’s musical arrangements. Both like to deliver satire coated in pleasing vocal harmonies.
Clark plays bass and harmonica, while Wayne plays guitar and occasional kazoo.
CD Review by Tony Smith
In this debut(ish) album, Clark Gormley and Wayne Thompson, threaten to put the already thriving Newcastle music scene firmly on the comedy map.
Assisted by, Grant Fraser, (guitar), Robbie Long, (percussion, mandolin, guitar, banjo, dobro), Luke Gaudry, (keys) and, Adam Ferrier, (trumpet), the pair create a listenable and amusing set of 13 tracks.
Nerds & Music send up almost everyone but especially the well-heeled aspirationals who have got Australia into our current mess.
Their self-deprecating approach leads them to show sympathy for those who are regarded as socially incompetent by the in crowd and the image makers.
Nerds are iconoclastic, taking aim at some of the most important influences in modern life, such as the mobile phone, the computer and other devices.
This approach gives their various topics a faux seriousness which invites a light snigger or an open guffaw.
Gormley has the writing credits for nine tracks.
‘Humble Pie’ and ‘Yellow Wheelie Bin’ feature fifties rock tunes.
‘The Font Song’ is a recitation beginning with a slow burn jazz blues trumpet that introduces a private eye story.
‘Words To That Effect’ has some nice banjo.
His ‘Favourite Texta’ walked into a pole, ‘while Bandwidth’ is in shanty style backed by seagulls rather than instruments.
‘Elephant in the Room’ and ‘On the over-representation of the musician as a subject in popular song’ are great fun, with the latter in ska style.
