As winter starts to bite (well, it is December), we keep going with our Band of the Day feature. Today we feature a band who could have “frozen” in their name, which is pretty apt. If it starts snowing…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We started in our hometown of Malvern, just a little place known for its hills, full of hippy musicians. Great place. Me Arran and Jim all met there and James most recently from Bristol.
How did you meet?
I met Arran in year 2 of primary school! I didn’t like him originally because of his tasted in lunchbox, but we got over that in time. Jim I met in secondary school and James I met about a month ago behind the kit!
How long have you been playing as a band?
We’ve been playing music together for a few years, under different names and different line ups. We’ve been releasing songs since the beginning of 2017 under the Nuns name.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
It kind of just fell in our laps as a joke really. Me and Arran were spitballing ideas and we knew we wanted something to do with Nuns. It was probably because of The Mighty Boosh that the word tundra was in there, it’s pretty much my favourite word. So on a train to Birmingham I was just saying all the different ways those two words would go together, said Nuns of the Tundra as a joke and it sounded much better coming out of my mouth than in my head if that makes sense? So I quickly went to the Brewdog pub, sat downstairs and set up all our socials just to make sure it wasn’t already taken!
What are your influences?
I’m massively driven by guitar oriented music, as you can probably guess by our songs. So for me anything with a killer riff in, that caught my attention. I think a lot of what I listened to when I was younger like Dream Theater, Tool, Devin Townsend, all the more progressive and abnormal guitar work, has definitely worked its way into how we write. Massively influenced by anything Dave Grohl is involved with, like Them Crooked Vultures, Queens of the Stone Age, Nine Inch Nails. Basically if Dave has touched it, it’s golden in my eyes.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
I think that it’s challenging to stand out, but it’s a fun challenge. We take a lot of American influence and mix it with British Indie. Our newest track, “Pray 4 U Slay 4 U”, is probably our most unique track so far. We wanted to give it more of a groove based feel rather than lead with guitar, and I think it’s created something new, at least for us. I’d say our music is inherently dark, and focuses more on little moments throughout, that catch your attention. So we try our best to keep each section different and interesting.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
I can’t help but sing about how scared I am of being normal, a lot of lyrical themes revolve around the fear of the rat race, fear of dying and not accomplishing anything. I think it’s also why I gravitated towards making music. But it isn’t done in such a gloom and doom kind of way, I’d like to think our music can come out quite positive, I’m sure a lot of people feel the same way.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
We try and keep it interesting at shows, if you want to hear the songs how they are you might as well just listen to us on spotify right? So we try and mix up the songs, get involved with the crowd, and hopefully create something memorable for everyone.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
We once played with a band who took apart and reassembled their drum kit up some stairs for their last song. That will always stick with me! As far as our own shows get we try and get into the actual crowd as much as possible, throw our gear around and regret it later.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
I play a really weird Gibson Firebird, it’s a non reverse model, which is a backwards name don’t you think? It’s kind of like a telecaster on steroids. It’s bashed up, but I love it.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
We’ve got a new single coming out on 7th December called “Pray 4 U Slay 4 U”, and we’re super excited to share it with the world!
What are your plans for 2018?
We’ve got 3 dates at the start of December to accompany “Pray’s” release, and we’re also going back in the studio to do two more songs with the same producers, can’t wait!
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you?
I’d love to support Cleopatrick, they’re really making waves right now, good to see a two piece making so much noise. And I’d probably get Dead Dads Club to open for us, they’re our current tour buddies and they’re all such great guys, and they bring the party.
Header image by GLKMedia
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