South Summit Interview on ‘Creatures’ EP
Written by Robert Hume.
January 2023 saw the release of South Summit’s sophomore EP, ‘Creatures’ and the release perfectly describes the Perth band’s sound, providing more of the smooth indie psychedelic rock that they’ve solidified themselves to be known for. Speaking to Fynn and Nemo from the band I got to learn more about how they tell their stories and how their heritage as First Nations musicians bleed into that process.
Rob: Thank you so much for chatting with me! How has the journey been for you both so far?
Fynn: It’s been about three years since we started the band. It's been a wild ride like we've been very lucky with everything we've got to do. You know, it just kind of all fell into place one piece after another, so I'm very happy with it.
Nemo: Yeah, I'd say we've been very fortunate to have done about three tours now over in the east last year, which is cool. We've been getting heaps of love and support from our fans so just riding the wave at the moment.
I love how the different Indigenous heritages from different members in the band come through in the music you play. How do you come about sharing culture in your music?
Fynn: Yeah, we try our best to show that side of us, you know, because it is a part of us and so yeah, we don't want to hide it and want to share it with listeners.
Nemo: I think it’s great having all of us being coming from different heritage heritages and different cultures and blend it together, and I think you see that in our music where it’s kind of raw and we don’t like trying to hide who we are, we showcase it and bring it out with our emotions that we feel and I think that’s one thing that we love expressing together as a band.
Rob: And on that cultural aspect, the first song on the EP, Yaama, has a title in the language of the Gamilaroi peoples and when I hear it, I hear a narrative welcome to the EP. Was that the intention?
Fynn: We decided we wanted to have a song to open up the EP with because we've done that in the last EP as well. But we just called it intro and so for this release we wanted to do the same and welcome everyone to the EP. Yaama is hello in the Gallamaroy language, which is the area where our bass player Josh is originally from and we just felt it was really fitting.
Rob: The storytelling through the track sets the scene for the tracks further on in the EP as well
Nemo: I think that's what we kind of aimed for in this EP, and focused on trying to have like a kind of story with a start and finish and yeah, implementing our cultures and those words was kind of helped, I'd say. That's part of the reason we chose the name creatures as well, because every song in there is quite different and they each have their own focus and story.
I think that's what Isaiah loves doing in his lyrics. Everything he writes, he also kind of tells the story from past experiences, which is cool. I think that’s just how it happens naturally.
Fynn: I don't think he can write without putting himself into it and every time he writes it always comes from that place because he has a lot of emotions to express and this is how he expresses them and we then bring them to life. All the songs that we’ve written so far have been pieces that we’re very proud of and I’m very lucky to be in a band that gets to make music that we like and people like it as well.
Rob: The feature track of the EP, titled ‘Changes,’ focuses on the inevitable changes that we face in life when falling into personal turmoil. I’m sure Isaiah would be better to ask about this, but is there anything in particular you can say about the song?
Nemo: Yeah, I think it's kind of just in the name of the song. It's just kind of like having those changes in life and kind of accepting them, moving on to something better, and forgetting about the past and all those bad experiences. It’s all about moving on to a better future.
Rob: One of my favourite parts of it is the guitar riff towards the end of it..
Fynn: I made up that line while we were playing a show years ago. I actually just improvised it and then it just stuck. So, it kind of stayed in the song ever since that. It’s a song that we’ve actually been playing live for a long time so it’s changed quite a bit over time as well and yeah that bit just came out of nowhere and it stuck.
Rob: Just starts with a title in language, it also ends with the Gamilaroi word for goodbye Yaluu. I love how it closes off the group of songs, what can you say about the song?
Fynn: I think that song in every sense was a closing song. It was another song that we've been playing live for a long time and we've always used it at the end of a show. So, when we came to the studio, we played with the idea of maybe turning it into like a shorter song, but we felt like it would lose the live energy and that's kind of the only thing we wanted from the song in the EP so we just jammed it out in the studio rather than just recording it
Nemo: So yeah, it was a good way to tie off the EP, and just letting go as we didn’t do anything to the song, just performed it as if we were on stage and it ties off the EP nicely.
Rob: You’ve worked quite a lot with Dave Parkin at Blackbird Studios, I know after performing live for so long it can be hard to finalise recordings, what’s it like being in the studio?
Nemo: Exactly, yeah, everything always changes when we're in the studio, no matter how I think, no matter how ready we are, we're always hop into the studio and we're like, maybe we can change this bit and add this other part and that's one thing good about Dave at Blackbird, he’s great at workshopping and dissecting the song and changing parts with us if we need to.
Fynn: I'm very glad that we work well with him and that we're both very open to making the song as good as we want it to be. We're very, very grateful that we get to step into the studio with him and watch him work. It's actually really fun, yeah.
Rob: Is there any band in particular you are all inspired by?
Nemo: Everyone has their personal favourites. I would say we've all got different tastes. All of us actually came from completely different spaces when we first joined the band, and had different artists we listened to. Now we all kind of dabble in the same type of music and, like Bob Marley is a huge influencer of mine but there's just too many to list.
Fynn: Ocean Alley of course, everyone makes that connection, it's hard not to get influenced by them but we love those guys
Rob: Finally, before I ask you the big question and let you go… I’ve heard you have a little thing you do before every show…
Nemo: A little huddle and we always write the set list like 5 minutes before the show, it’s never a purposeful choice, it's just how it happens. We've been playing enough that we know how to play and we just need to check them in an order and see what happens.
Rob: What's next for South Summit?
Fynn: We're going on tour soon, of course, and we've also got a bunch of music that we've just stepped into the studio for and we are very excited about these songs and keen for them to come out soon.
Nemo: Keep your eyes peeled for more from the band!
You can catch South Summit on their newly announced national tour in March and April. Head to southsummitband.com/gigs to learn more and get tickets!
