Double London duo Nova Twins reveal how their idiosyncratic sound and single-minded approach come purely from a desire to be true to themselves. Profile by Dave Everley
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When Nova Twins formed there was nothing else around like them. Two fiercely independent female musicians of mixed heritage, they made an uproarious noise that drew equal inspiration from hip-hop, punk, grime, garage rock and more. Half a decade later they’re still out there on their own. And they couldn’t be happier. “People want to label us: ‘What are you? Urban Punk?’” says singer and guitarist Amy Love. “Society labels everything, but not everybody fits them. And a lot of people don’t want to be labelled. We like to exist between the lines.” “When we started, people said we had to be more ‘pop’,” adds bassist Georgia South. “They tried to cut our riffs, like, ‘Maybe you should just play two notes of it’. We just carried on doing what we wanted to do.” Sitting in an on-trend East London bar that doubles up as a motorcycle garage, still dressed in the vivid outfits and make-up they wore for their photo session, the pair are an explosion of personality and colour. The same hyperconfident, take-no-prisoners approach that courses through their music fuels both their conversation and their worldview.
“A lot of people don’t want to be labelled. We like to exist between the lines.” Amy Love The Musician • Autumn 2019
“I don’t think we’ve ever really had a plan,” says South. “We didn’t think, ‘This is what we want to do’. We just did it.” That initial lack of a concrete career path hasn’t hindered Nova Twins. Since releasing debut single Bassline Bitch in 2016 – accompanied by an attention-grabbing video filmed by South’s mother on a mobile phone – they’ve carved their name on the club and festival circuits. Impressively, they’ve done it on their own, funding and releasing the subsequent string of singles and EPs themselves. “The DIY thing is important for us,” says Love. “That’s not to say we don’t want a deal, but we don’t want the wrong deal.” Integrated roots Lewisham-born South’s parents are both musicians, something that has given her a clear view of what to expect from the music business. “There was also a heavy grime culture when I was growing up, and it was cool to be immersed in that,” she says. “That definitely influenced the style of bass I play, mixed with the hip-hop element. And I love fat synth sounds.” South met Love when the latter attended The British Academy Of New Music with South’s older brother. “It was really good in terms of opening my horizons,” says Love of music college. “Being from a small town in Essex, it wasn’t that diverse. Coming to London, I experienced different types of people, different ways of doing things. I really fell in love with that live sound, and I discovered different types of artists that I wouldn’t have found out about being at home in Essex – MC5, New York Dolls, Betty Davis.”
