Doom-pop purveyors SUPERNAKED hail from Walyalup // Fremantle. Their self-titled EP (2021) is a cathartic mix of soaring rhythms, reverb-soaked guitars, haunting vocals + surging electronics.
Initially formed in 2016 as a duo – with Jordan Shakespeare [Cuss // Tunafish Recording Studio] and Beth Commons [Pool Boy // Gia Como] – their line-up has now filled out to a five-piece. Beth chatted with us ahead of their ALT//FEST slot at Badlands on November 12.
Your self-titled EP sees the band step further into fully-fledged pop territory. Was this a natural progression?
I think it was both conscious and also pretty organic. On our previous release, we were both in very different phases of our lives compared to now. I think with our brain growth our musical tastes reflected the transition.
There is a big emphasis on the euphoric concepts of ‘love’ throughout this EP. Considering this offering was written at the beginning of the COVID period, how did this reflect what both of you were going through at that time?
COVID was weird for me (as well as everyone else, I’m sure) because the nature of lockdowns and social distancing forced me to spend time with myself. Before COVID-19, I wasn’t really open to romantic relationships. Something changed after the lockdowns/social distancing eased a bit and I had re-evaluated how I want to conduct myself within a relationship, were I to have one.
I ended up meeting a really special dude and it was a new love for me and it happened very quick. I’m sure it was something to do with my brain being ready to receive love or whatever, but that’s really stuff for my therapist and I to talk about. Point is, I felt inclined to write about ‘love’ in its entirety. The good and the bad. Prior to this release, everything related to love had been sorta bad for me, but there was good now.
You’ve mentioned previously that more time was spent on the songwriting process for this release. Do you think this benefitted this release? Or did it cause more headaches?
I think the timespan in which we wrote this release was probably just right. We had a few core songs that we definitely wanted to release and some others came much further down the line. I think that if the period was any shorter, the release would lack a resolution.
It was just a really pleasant experience of putting together a release. No deadlines or expectations, really. Jordo and I would come together on any given afternoon and tinker with sounds/ideas and sometimes we’d end up just hanging out. We let the songs come to us, ya know? We didn’t wanna rush the lil’ fellas.
Now that the self-titled release has had time to breathe, are you working on new material now?
We’re always working on new stuff! Again, we sort of wait for inspiration to engulf our tiny brains and then we write whilst that’s happening. We’ll be writing our next EP with our live band. I think it would be sick to have more musical input. So with that in mind, who knows what direction we’re heading in? But there’s capable fingers in the pie, so that’s super exciting.
What would be your ideal contemporary Australian gig (in an ideal world) and why?
Just like… a Shit Narnia show again please. In an ideal world.
ALT // FEST is on Saturday, November 12 at Badlands Bar. Tickets available now here.
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