Teresa Taylor (born 1962), also known as Teresa Nervosa, is an American musician and actress. She is best known as being a drummer for the American punk band Butthole Surfers.
Taylor was born in Arlington, Texas. She began drumming by playing for various high school marching bands in Texas' Fort Worth and Austin areas. King Coffey, another Surfers drummer who remains with the group to this day, was one of her fellow performers in high school.
The band was formed in San Antonio, Texas, by singer Gibby Haynes and guitarists Paul Leary and Jonathan Grisham in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been consistent since 1983. Teresa Nervosa served as second drummer from 1983 to 1985, 1986 to 1989, and 2009. The band has also employed a variety of bass players, most notably Jeff Pinkus. Emerging from the 1980s hardcore punk scene, Butthole Surfers quickly became known for their chaotic live shows, black comedy, and a sound that incorporated elements of psychedelia, noise rock, and punk as well as their use of sound manipulation and tape editing.
Shortly after leaving the band in 1989, Taylor was diagnosed with an aneurysm and subsequently underwent brain surgery. She also started to suffer from strobe light-induced seizures. Taylor had a small role in director Richard Linklater's 1991 film, Slacker. She played a woman who was trying to sell a pap smear from Madonna.
In 1995, Coffey indicated that Taylor was employed at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and was working on a book about her experiences touring with the Butthole Surfers. As of 2007, Taylor was living in Austin and still recording music with Gibby Haynes, who has a home studio there. In 2008, she returned to the Butthole Surfers: the band's website announced tour dates for 2009 including Taylor.
