Dark Nemesis WE’RE ALL ABOUT THE TWEETS twitter.com /roccitynews
rising Eddie Nebula is still angry after all these years [ PROFILE ] BY FRANK DE BLASE
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Though he generally comes off as a happy guy, for the last two decades or so, Rochester musician Eddie Nebula has spewed buckets of beautifully biographical vitriol. Wearing his bleeding black heart on his sleeve, Nebula has accosted the anger head on with punk energy, metal speed, and the jaded insight of a young man who has been angry for a while. First it was as guitarist in the wisenheimer punk outfit The Al Beaman Band, where Nebula got his ya-ya’s out, pogoing like a rabid kangaroo with his feet in the air. Then he ratcheted up the rage in un-muted metal overtones with Eddie Nebula and the Plague. Now it’s with Dark Nemesis: a future-primitive concept band that incorporates mythology and foreboding doom. The sound is as seething and intimidating as the band, dressed in armored vests like something out of Thunder Dome or Planet of the Apes. Run.
“It was an idea first,” Nebula says. “We did Eddie Nebula and the Plague for 10 years. Then we were frozen in a block of carbonite, under the radar for a while.” While Nebula was absent, Rochester kept rolling. When he returned, it was a new game with new players. “The music scene changed,” Nebula says. “All new bands, all new people, we’re strangers in a strange land. If the name Eddie Nebula ever meant anything once upon a time in terms of Rochester music, it’s probably worth about four bucks today. Could we rest on our laurels? There’s credibility in what we’ve done, but I’d rather throw it away, actually. I’d rather start over and have something to prove, I’d rather be the contender than the fat heavyweight. It makes you more creative when you’re hungry for something.” So now the man was angry and hungry. Look
out. It’s not the God of Thunder, but… “It’s the stepson of the God of Thunder,” Nebula says. “I’ve had all these horrifically failed relationships. I’m vilified in all these relationships, beneath it is the narcissistic killer, and I thought, ‘Can we just parody that? Yes, circle that with a Sharpie.’ “You start imagining yourself the bad guy, the villain,” he continues. “I’m the
stepson of the God of Thunder; my stepgrandfather is Zeus; my stepfather is Thor. So right away in the first song you’ve got this character that’s claiming royalty over authority that isn’t his to claim. It’s illegitimate … because nobody really gets any revenge or justice in this life.” For example? “Everybody who posts on Facebook,” Nebula says. “It’s coming out of their pores how angry they are; they’re upset. Some of us have the opportunity to come up with something creative instead. I have the luxury to write songs and be in a rock band. People can take that in their own way, and put their own meaning behind it.” So for the past year, Nebula and the rest of the crew — Jeff Moscow, guitar; Hungus, guitar; Baron Von Wasteland, bass; and Black Lange, drums — have worked on the concept ultimately yielding the debut disc, “Stepson of the God of Thunder,” and leading the charge is Nebula’s snarl. It’s quite remarkable: you can actually hear the sneer on his face. The other members bring elements of metal and hard rock not completely unlike past endeavors. “I think in this band, everyone is stylistically similar,” Nebula says. “With the Plague you had some metal guys in the band, some rock guys, and some punk rock