Nova Twins: “When we toured with Foo Fighters last year, it was really inspiring"

There’s opening doors – and then there’s kicking them down in studded platform boots. English rock duo Nova Twins choose to do the latter, and with a shelf full of awards – not to mention two BRIT nominations and a Mercury shortlist nod – the results have been decidedly impressive.

For good measure, the London duo were nominated for Best Alternative Music Act at the 2022 MOBO awards, the debut year for a category created after their open letter calling for more representation in the rock/alternative genre.

Now, vocalist/guitarist Amy Love and bassist Georgia South are preparing for the release of their third record, Parasites & Butterflies. As Nova Twins, the childhood friends have developed a grungy, rebellious sound that continues to win new fans internationally – and the duo are hugely excited about their upcoming Dublin visit.

“We love Ireland,” South enthuses. “It’s always very green – when we drive into it, we’re like, ‘Oh my god, it looks so green!’”

“The thing is, every time we’ve been, we haven’t managed to have a full on adventure,” adds Love. “Once we managed to do St. Paddy’s Day for a few hours when we were really jetlagged. We forced ourselves, because we’ve got to – we’d love to explore everywhere.”

The girls are also into several current Irish acts, citing CMAT and Kneecap as particular favourites. In terms of their own musical growth, they’ve had some towering influences right from the off.

“My dad taught us how to play bass and guitar growing up, and he’s an incredible musician,” South says of her father, composer and musician William South. “Both my parents are super encouraging of us playing differently. They taught us that you don’t have to imitate someone who’s been before. You can find your own voice, which has always been really great rhetoric to follow.”

“Our families are such big role models,” Love adds. “Especially the women in my family – they taught us how to be women. They’re so strong and bold. They’ve always encouraged us to be authentically ourselves and to go after our dreams.”

The duo have also been taking notes during their tours with some high profile acts, including Prophets Of Rage, Lenny Kravitz and the Foo Fighters.

“When we toured with Foo Fighters last year, in between recording our album, it was really inspiring,” notes Love. “They still had the love for what they do, and they brought it every night on tour. Also, we saw

Wolf Alice the other day and they’re brilliant as well. It’s nice to see bands being passionate about what they do, because it’s such a tough industry.

“It can make you a little bit cynical, especially if you’ve been in it for a while. So when you see people leaving it all on the table, you get back to the basics of why you do it in the first place.”

As Nova Twins have developed over the past decade, they’ve definitely had to show resilience.

“We’ve naturally evolved through experience,” South explains. “We’ve done so many shows, and we love that, because we grew up playing loads of grassroot venues. We did all the circuits in London, and then branched out to Bristol, Cardiff, Guildford – you name it, we’ve done it. We started very naive, as young musicians do. You kiss a few frogs, you try a few new things, and you learn that way, like anything in life.”

Parasites & Butterflies.

Any standout moments from all those shows?

“Glastonbury, when we played the Other Stage and met Elton John, was an amazing moment,” says Love, humbly leaving out the part where John named them as one of his top four acts to watch, adding, “these girls rock my world.”

What’s it like receiving such high praise?

“We always say we’re an artist’s band,” Love explains. “So it always means the most to us when artists are so encouraging. When we were first on the scene, the industry was trying to place us in a box, one we didn’t fit in. It was always leading us more towards R&B and hip hop, but what we’re in a heavier rock/alternative genre.

“All the encouragement we got from other artists, and our audience, is why we’re here today, because we would have doubted ourselves otherwise. People made us feel like we didn’t belong in these spaces.”

Who made them feel like they did belong?

“One person that’s been super-encouraging is Tom Morello,” South reveals. “He’s been there from the very beginning to now – he’s constantly supporting us, giving us advice and cheering us on. It’s amazing to have a legend like him on your side, because you can feel a bit lost. We can ask him, ‘Are we going on the right path?’ because it’s a crazy industry. But as somebody who’s done it – and as this fucking guitar hero – it’s great to hear from him.”

Nevertheless, it can’t have been easy. Especially given the group’s two years of non-stop shows from late 2020 to early ’23.

“It was amazing, but it also took its toll,” Love acknowledges. “We weren’t that experienced in that type of thing, so when we got back, we were like shells of humans. We were trying to catch up on ourselves, on family, on everything. Then we had this album to write in quite a short amount of time, so we were feeling the pressure.

“It was a difficult process, and it was winter – dark and grey. But we acknowledged that feeling. We decided we can’t put pressure on this album. Ignore the outside chaos and the outside noise, and let’s just write this, and try to put ourselves into it. Even through the ups and downs, we noticed the duality of what we were feeling.

“That theme went into the album, the bridge between chaos and beauty. Because we were chaotic at moments, but then we’d find happy moments again, when we were coming out of that headspace. That inspired the yin and yang quality of the album.”

Ah, yes, the album. They’ve been putting out singles like a trail of unbelievably good breadcrumbs, with a world-shaking, mountain-moving record promised at the end. What do the girls want listeners to take away from Parasites & Butterflies as a whole?

“To not be afraid to jump into the unknown and embrace the vulnerability in life,” says South. “Cos we all feel moments of vulnerability, and also moments of strength. They’re all very relative and it’s important to feel those things. But also, take away what you want from it.

“Because when it’s released, what certain songs mean to us might mean something completely different to somebody else. We love that a song can be multi-dimensional.”

One idea not up for interpretation is this: Nova Twins are still kicking ass in 2025. After a decade, what should people know about a group Tom Morello once called “the best band you’ve never heard of”?

“It’s just the beginning,” says Love. “Watch this space.”

• Parasites & Butterflies is out now. Nova Twins play the Button Factory, Dublin on October 14.