‘Feel Worse’ explores schadenfreude; the pleasure derived from another person's misfortune. With this they use new material to attack austerity and UK authoritarianism, consumer culture (particularly the consumption of quick fix reality TV and hyper-capitalist agendas), youth culture, bullying and more. They do so with their intense and unmistakable brand of abrasive, chaotic post-hardcore. There’s a raw and uncompromising energy to USA Nails, and ‘Feel Worse’ is their most powerful and vital album to date.
Elsewhere on their relentless sixth LP, they explore these themes closer to home. He continues; “Feel Worse and Pack Of Dogs are about laddish culture and schoolyard bullying. As youngsters, we jostle for social positioning and at times it’s at the expense of other people’s well-being. I used to say my teenage years were character building but on reflection I’d probably say they were character destroying, and those who made me feel so small through physical and emotional attacks probably don’t remember, hence the refrain ‘It’s just some words’. Maybe I should just “man up” a bit. There’s a parallel in all of this I guess, and in the fact that I wrote songs about my own experiences, some of them exposing my own vulnerabilities to an audience. Ok, maybe not to the extent of my references but hey, an audience none the less.”
