Q&A – 2000 Trees 2019 Artists: Novacub – August 2019

Hello! You’re playing on the Neu Stage later today. What can people expect from your set?

Iona: Lots of energy and great music! For people who have never heard our music before, it’s kind of a mixture of everything. A bit of pop-rock…

Louise: A bit of heavy metal and jazz…. Basically, it’s just a laugh!

Are there any other artists that you want to see here this weekend?

Tony: If we get the chance, it would be nice to see Flogging Molly. Frank Turner and Yonaka would be cool as well!

This year you’ve toured with Kaiser Chiefs & The Xcerts. How did those tours go?

Iona: I think they were great. We’re still starting out and getting used to it all.

Louise: Dealing with other bands is difficult, you know? We have to put up with a lot of stuff as a support band.

Tony: No; it was actually great, and it was our first proper touring experience as a band. It was a very fun time.

Louise: We managed to poach some of their followers too. It’s a good sign if a few people follow you after the show. Then they follow you around the streets and never leave you alone, and harass you… It’s all good.

You’ve released two singles so far; I Still Need It & Wait Up. How do you feel the general reaction has been to the new music?

Russell: I think it’s been good. People have been leaving nice comments online and telling us that they like them. They also seem excited to hear more music, which is great because we have lots more music coming out soon.

Louise: We’ve got another new song coming out very soon. Our third song, Strike, is out on July 19th, and we’re really excited about this one. It’s probably our favourite of the songs released so far, so we’re trying to spread that word.

You recently made your own video for Wait Up. What inspired you to take the DIY approach in making the video?

Louise: DIY?… No… We had a big production team called Novacub Productions. They’re actually a great company; you should check out their work. As far as I know, we’re the first people that they’ve worked with. What’s the inspiration Tony? You know the guys quite well.

Tony: I think that the production started a few years ago. They started writing the script for it and when it finally came around to it…

Louise: They had the vision! We had the song, and it just took off. It’s gone viral. If you want to hear it, or see it check out @novacubmusic on Instagram. You’ll find it there.

Louise: The real inspiration behind it is just how silly we are. As you can tell, we’re all complete idiots. We just like to have fun in our music videos and try to show that.

Following on from the single releases, are you currently working on an EP or an album?

Louise: We are currently working on an EP, and then the plan is to put more music out. We don’t know in what form yet, but we definitely have over an album’s worth of songs. The EP should come out at some point this year. First things first though, everyone should listen to Strike!

Russell and Louise; you have both been members of Bloc Party. How does touring as part of Novacub differ from touring with Bloc Party?

Russell: Well there’s a lot more fighting in Novacub, which is funny, because there was already a lot of fighting in Bloc Party. We just take it to the next level in Novacub. Not really… It’s all very DIY at the moment; we’re driving ourselves and doing everything ourselves. It’s fun and getting to know who your three friends are is really character-building. Right guys?…. Guys?…

Who do you think would win in a drum-off between Louise and Tony?

Louise: I’m going to say that Tony would win.

Tony: I’m going to say that I would win, because I would play dirty and throw a drum at Louise. I’d knock her out and then I would just win without playing anything.

Louise: Then he would think that he’s knocked me out, but he’s actually killed me. Then he would go to jail, but it would turn out that I’d just been in a coma after all. Then I would wake up and suddenly I’m back on it doing my drums. I’d go visit him in jail and be like ‘HA! SUCKER!’

Russell: Then Tony gets out on good behaviour early, and then he comes to find you.

Tony: Then I take the throne back!

Louise: But how do you do that Tony?

Iona: Tony! That was in your ear!

Tony: What the hell?

Louise: Then Iona our bass player finds a secret weapon in Tony’s ear that he’s been hiding, and they battle!

Tony: But what no-one knows is that Russell has been secretly learning to play drums in those five years that Louise was in a coma, and he comes along and beats everyone!

Tony: So that was a little snippet of Novacub: The Movie, coming out March 2020!

Louise: 2020? That’s a lot of pressure to get all the scenes done by then! Sorry, we went on a bit of a tangent from the question of who’s better. I’m actually better and Tony’s working his way up. Actually, maybe we should do a video and let people vote?

If you could choose any artists to headline your own festival, who would you choose?

Everyone: Novacub!

Louise: We’d put ourself as main headline, and then lower down the bill we’d choose Beyonce, Rihanna and Billie Eilish. We’d audition people and see what we think. Obviously pay to play would be a thing as well… The exposure that they’d get from that would be, crazy.

What else is in the pipeline for you this year?

Louise: We’re putting more music out. We have been trying to get support tours too and we potentially have one locked in for later this year. We’ll also be making music constantly; everyday is a new day.

Tony: We always have little surprises that we give away to our fans, so if you go on our Instagram @novacubmusic, we always have loads of surprises on there.

Louise: We give free music out to people who like us, so we’re going to do that right after the next release. Come join us!

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