The Nymphets

"Montreal two-piece the Nymphets were a last-minute festival addition after a local Halifax band called in sick. Their set moved between fast and slow, from pop punk to Velvet Underground-like tones. They make an impressive amount of noise with just a guitar and drums, though the vocals were barely audible behind the instruments for this set. The band’s songs were catchy and sharp." by Laura Kenins (Exclaim, Oct 20, 2010)

"What's that song again? About how you don't know what you've got until it's gone to a parking lot? If this is true, then the punks in the Nymphets are the parking lot of my heart, paving and protecting that vital organ with their fast, insolent and loving songs. They're playing a couple more times before they leave to do something that is probably too cool for you or I to understand. " by Alison Lang (The Coast, March 10, 2011)

“the Nymphets…quite simply blew me away. Kind of like crossing early Wire’s urgency, Buzzcocks’ melody and the Modern Lovers’ unadulterated geekiness, these guys are definitely a local band that deserves your attention…I can guarantee that the Nymphets will be your new local discovery.”
-Johnson Cummins (Montreal Mirror, July 27th 2006)

“a raw, charismatic trio…whose high-velocity, melodic style is what might have resulted if the Buzzcocks had a gruff, female drummer-vocalist from Sweden.”
-Carl Wilson (the Globe and Mail, October 10th 2006)

"This band are awesome. They’re awesome live and this single is awesome. "Feels Like Motherfuckers” is … a super-fast melodic kick that feels like it could derail at any moment. It doesn’t, which somehow seems impressive by the song’s conclusion, and you’re left to just play the damn thing a bunch more times." by Sam Sutherland (Exclaim, June 2008)

"The Nymphets took the stage quickly, and after their 25-minute set, we felt as if they'd set the place on fire. The lanky trio were a perfect punk rock recipe: Take 90 seconds. Add equal parts drums, bass and guitar. Influence heavily with The Ramones. Sprinkle liberally with sweat. Repeat."
-Rebecca Tucker (National Post, June 14th 2007)

"The three-piece ran through a 25-minute set of supremely addictive Ramones-style punk songs with unflinching intensity, jerky limbs and a whole lot of unnecessary swearing. Theirs was a thoroughly captivating performance, easily one of the best at the festival"
-Pras Rajagopalan (exclaim!, April 2007)

"Disc-overy of the Week
THE NYMPHETS (Independent)
The musical equivalent of Grade 10, Montreal's Nymphets tear like a buzzsaw (or a Buzzcock) through eight songs in 15 minutes, recalling both bouncy early British punk and the less frantic pop practiced by local outfits such as The Bicycles and Henri Fabergé & The Adorables. These are mostly songs-as-declaration, vexed rebellion over spiky riffs, and all the better for it..Put them down as "Most Likely to Succeed."
-Chris Randle (Eye Weekly, January 11th, 2007)

"Like a party in your pants that just won't stop and then they go and rock you pants OFF. Puts a smile on my face. Tic tic tic tic tic."
-Sarah from Pony Up! (Dim Mak records)

“they put on the most satisfying POP Montreal set. Kids entertaining kids and everyone wins.”

“…. one of Montreal's best kept secrets, the Nymphets, who've been wowing rock 'n' rollers and expensive used clothing store shoppers alike with their brand of budget-rock revival that would make the Mummies, Television Personalities and the Donnas (before they traded in their ripped jeans and leather jackets for spandex and eyeliner) proud.”
(CJLO.com, on-line zine for Concordia university radio)

“The Nymphets look like they live on stage. …punk/ garage straight out of The Dead Boys school of punk rock … This is as pure as it gets and it feels really good… Arse kicking punk out of the trash school of CBGB's. Yes Please!”
-Miss Gardiner (from review of show at Moles club Bath, UK)

“Les Nymphets sont assurément un des meilleurs groupes rock de Montreal. Un groupe autentique qui n'a rien à faire de ce qui est en vogue ou de ce qui ne l'est pas mais se concentre plutot à l'ecriture de vrais bonnes chansons!”
-Ysael Pepin (The Demon’s Claws (In the Red Records))

“My new favourite band!”
-Phil Burns (Trailer, Ex-Tricky Woo/Soft Canyon)

“…a very solid punk-influenced trio from Montreal …top notch.”
-Andrew Carve (editorial staffer/music reviewer, The Ottawa Sun)

“The Nymphets are great! Catchy, rockin', energetic, good ol' punk rock done with the right amount of just barely flyin' by the seat of yer pants panache.”
-Chris Burns (Crackpot/ Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls /ex-Terminal Sunglasses)

“the bestest in pop punk rock... Montreal's best kept secret!”
“Johanna Nymphet is the fastest of them all!!!! “
-Fred Defoy (The Confusers/The First Times/Go-go Pleasers)

"la surprise est venue des Nymphets, groupe local invité par le magasine Vice qui organise une épluchette de blé d'Inde. Le trio dose parfaitement sa folie explosive et son énergie punk et rock défonce. Plutôt impressionnante, à défaut d'être toujours dans les temps tel un métronome, la batteuse Johanna martèle ses peaux en plus de s'époumoner sur quelques pièces. Une fille qui a le feu dans les yeux."

-Olivier Robillard-Laveaux (Voir (blog))



- random

THE NYMPHETS

I See 7” single

Signed By Force 2009

What can I say? I’m a sucker for the Nymphets. This powerful trio captured my heart the first time I saw them in a tiny pub in Ottawa with the White Wires. Heard they were from Brooklyn, then Montreal, now rumour has it they’re in Austin or maybe Calgary? Who knows. Either way this little 7” is stellar. “I See” is a total anthem. Whap-whap-whap-whap drums with hissy snare and rangy guitar. Everyone shout: “I see, I see it’s TRUE!” The B-side has a whimsical little version of the Troggs’ “With a Girl Like You” and another super-fast sweet punk number called “I Hate Everybody Else”. On Signed By Force Records. Probably my favourite 7” cover art ever. I’m not going to tell you what it looks like, go get it, it’s worth it! (Morgan Donor) - Mongrel Zine

http://www.montrealmirror.com/2007/011807/music3.html

When people ask us what kind of music we play, I just say, ‘Punk rock,’” offers Johanna Heldebro, drummer of Montreal’s the Nymphets. “We don’t really think about what kind of band we want to be too much. We just want to write fun pop songs.

True, the words “fun” and “pop,” especially deployed together, may well bring bile to the back of the throat, but the Nymphets take influences from an era when “pop punk” wasn’t such a dirty word. Having evidently learned well from the Undertones and Buzzcocks while taking a page out of the Ramones rulebook, the Nymphets’ songs barely scale the two-minute mark and prove to be catchy as hell. The stacked metallic guitars are forgone for downstroked twang, while their threechord blasts are rife with a naiveté that would make even Jonathan Richman and his Modern Lovers blush crimson.

“I guess we’re too aggressive for a lot of the indie-rock kind of audiences, and we’re not aggressive enough for a lot of the punk rock audiences. I think that has kind of worked out for us, though. There is room for all kinds of bands in Montreal, and people are really into supporting bands that aren’t easy to pigeonhole here.”

The Nymphets started innocently enough three years ago, when Heldebro decided to take up drums after seeing a particularly stirring performance by Sweden’s Sahara Hotnights. Having been friends before they started the band, Heldebro joined forces with Jared Leon, who had previously played guitar but, like Heldebro, had never been in a band before. After a short spell in the rehearsal space and Jared’s brother Ben added on bass, the Nymphets quickly booked themselves at the Barfly. “We only had two weeks to get a set together for that show, so that really made us work hard. I can guarantee you, we were probably not very good, but I remember that people like Ted [Minette, Jerk Appeal singer] were there, and he was really encouraging, so that really helped a lot.”

With the Nymphets definitely paying their dues, playing the local watering holes since their Barfly debut, they managed to skip a couple of rungs on the local-band ladder this past summer when they packed up and toured Europe, playing 20 shows in 25 days. Not really too shocking these days, when you think about how hard crossing the hermetically-sealed U.S. border is, with increasingly stringent immigration laws and work visas like the P2 priced out of reach. At home in Canada, things are only marginally better for a young band without an established fan base and little money to pour into the gas tanks to support the long drives. Many European cities, on the other hand, boast far more enthusiastic audiences, shorter drives and government-funded arts programs that pay and feed touring bands.

“Touring Europe was just so much fun. It was hard in the U.K., but most other places they would make sure you are fed and just treat you really well. That really makes a big difference for a band like us.”

-by Johnson Cummins (January 18th, 2007) - The Mirror

http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2007-01-11/music_feature2.php

Having rocked Montreal clubs for three years now, the Nymphets are aware of what kind of havoc a little global hype can wreak on an indie rock scene.

For one thing, unless your group has more than six members, wears helmets or has a handle that explicitly mentions wolves or fire, it's much tougher to get a downtown gig in Montreal these days. Even the dives are getting choosy about which locals they book.

"The first show we ever played was at Bar Fly," recalls drum-smacker Johanna Heldebro from the Montreal pad she shares with guitarist Jared Leon, "and we set that up no more than two weeks before the gig. But now if you want to play Bar Fly – a divey little venue – you have to book, like, three, maybe four months in advance.

"I don't know if there's been a dramatic increase in bands here, but it definitely seems like a lot more of them sound like Arcade Fire, even though we don't run in those circles."

The hyperactive Buzzcockian bash-'n'-crash knocked out by the three-piece Nymphets on their self-released debut disc is about as far away from the ensemble melodrama of the Arcade Fire as you could get using guitars and drums – although that hasn't stopped anyone in the press from reaching for parallels.

"It's funny – when we were on tour in Europe last summer, some newspaper in Denmark previewed our show and mentioned Arcade Fire in the same sentence. Our promoter was thrilled because he thought it would fill the club, however inaccurate the comparison.

"When Jared and I started the band, our main influence was all that late-70s punk stuff like the Ramones and the Buzzcocks, which I think comes across in the sound of our debut disc. But I think Jared would be happy to see us moving in a New Order or Roxy Music direction; that's what he's been into lately, whereas I've been getting into more death metal – y'know, stuff like At the Gate and Cannibal Corpse."

Being that Heldebro is the Nymphets designated time-keeper, suddenly the band's breakneck tempos make sense.

"Oh yeah," giggles Heldebro mischievously, "speed is really important to us. Because we weren't particularly skilled musicians when we first got together – I'd never played drums before the Nymphets – we wanted to play as loud and fast as possible. Over the years, instead of slowing down, we've just gotten faster and faster.

"We're recording a new single soon, so who knows? Both songs might clock in at under a minute."

timp@nowtoronto.com
NOW | JANUARY 11 - 17, 2007 | VOL. 26 NO. 19 - Now Toronto