Choose your fighter… Amy Love, or Georgia South?
Get ready for double the awesomeness here at The Headbanging Moose with our talented, charismatic and stunning rock and metal ladies of the month of July, turning up the heat even more this summer. Hailing from London, England, this amazing UK duo will rock your world with their fusion of Rock N’ Roll, Punk Rock and Heavy Metal with several other styles, always sounding vibrant, fresh and dynamic and, consequently, getting a bigger and bigger fanbase with each one of their releases. I’m talking about the electrifying English Hard Rock duo Nova Twins, formed of vocalist and guitarist Amy Love, and bassist, keyboardist and backing vocalist Georgia South, two unrelenting women who will kick your ass with their first-class music, wicked videos and incendiary live performances, and I’m sure you’ll become addicted to them after knowing more about their career.
Formed in 2014 in “The Big Smoke” (under the name BRAATS, when they released a song named Bad Bitches that can be seen being performed live HERE), Nova Twins are chaotic and hyperactive, charming and insane, describing their music as “Urban Punk”, and their perfect sync comes from years and years of friendship. Having been close friends since childhood, and having played in bands that were often booked on the same bill, the duo is the perfect example of how a DIY attitude can be extremely beneficial if you love what you do and if you keep working hard to achieve your goals. Sewing their stage outfits from scratch, and filming their music videos using smartphones with the help of Georgia South’s mother, the then teenagers Amy and Georgia quickly gained considerable recognition in the local Southeast London open-mic scene, playing at renowned venues including The Fox & Firkin and Ravensbourne Arms, and releasing their debut single titled Bassline Bitch online back in 2015, leading to the release of their self-titled debut EP in 2016.
Of Iranian and Nigerian descent, vocalist and guitarist Amy Love has always had a love for the electric guitar despite not being able to play it when she first started to make music, always finding guitarists to accompany her on songs, considering very frustrating the fact she couldn’t play the guitar herself, which could cause some hurdles in her creative process; whereas Georgia South, who’s of Jamaican and Australian descent, and whose father is also a musician named William South, first started learning the bass guitar when she went to band school over a summer holiday at 13 years old. They met as teenagers through Georgia’s brother and felt a connection right away “I was introduced to Georgia’s family and we just got on like a house on fire,” said Amy in one of her interviews. “I went to her house one day and we clicked immediately.” They didn’t think about forming a band right away, though, due to Amy’s solo project and Georgia being involved in a local band, but of course, as you already know, it didn’t take long for the duo to get united in the name of Rock N’ Roll.
The duo has already released two full-length albums, those being Who Are the Girls? in 2020 and Supernova in 2022, plus their aforementioned self-titled EP in 2016, the EP Thelma and Louise in 2017, and another EP in 2017 titled Mood Swings, as well as several singles. All their wicked creations can be found on YouTube and on Spotify, including the official videos for Cleopatra, Taxi, Play Fair, K.M.B., and Wave, among others, not to mention all official and unofficial live footage such as Cleopatra live at Rock im Park in 2023, and Bassline Bitch live at Hellfest in 2019, and you can also click HERE for all things Nova Twins.
Having already toured with several amazing bands the likes of Prophets of Rage, Wolf Alice, Skunk Anansie, Bring Me The Horizon and Enter Shikari, Amy and Georgia have also collaborated with Bring Me The Horizon on the song 1×1, from their 2020 album Post Human: Survival Horror, with Koder on the song Vibrations – Remix, from the 2017 EP Vibrations, and with Tsar B on the song Flitch, found in the 2020 EP’s Unpaintable and Flitch. They’ve also performed with Fever 333 during their BBC Radio 1 Maida Vale session, won Best UK Breakthrough Band at the Heavy Music Awards, ranked in NME’s 20 best debut albums of 2020, became the face of Dr. Martens Alternative A/W campaign, and started their own custom clothing line called Bad Stitches.
Highly vocal about the rock and metal scene, and about the musical roots that helped them craft their path to stardom, the duo is influenced by an array of artists and musicians it’s actually hard to list all or even to label them, showing how diverse their taste can be. “We’re influenced by so many different things that I don’t think we’d feel comfortable being stuck to one thing. We enjoy experiencing and being inspired by different genres, whether it’s hip-hop or jazz. Music’s music and it comes in different forms, but makes you feel different things at the right time,” commented the duo. Having Skin (of Skunk Anansie) and Tom Morello (of Rage Against The Machine) as their friends and mentors, Nova Twins strongly believe that having those mentors has been crucial for their growth as musicians, always receiving constructive feedback and technical advice from those seasoned musicians. In addition, the duo also loves to support new bands, mentioning Gully Boys, Pinkshift, Zaria, The OBGMs and HO99O9 as some of the artists they enjoy listening to and seeing live.
Regarding their live performances, Georgia mentioned in one of their interviews that she wants fans to leave their shows feeling “like they’ve released everything, and like they feel seen in the room.” They’ve been touring everywhere, taking their electrifying music to the stages in the UK, Europe and the United States, being the headliners in cities like Toronto, New York and Los Angeles, and even playing at famous European summer festivals the likes of Hellfest and Rock im Park, always taking good care of themselves to be able to perform in full force. “We’re quite disciplined. Drink fucks my vocals and if Georgia was drunk on stage there’s no way she’d be able to tap dance on her pedalboard. You have to go that step further to make sure you’re keeping alright. When we were first on tour we’d have sweets and crisps and shit on our rider, and always be hungry but forever eating and sitting in a van for eight hours all day. Now we’ve taken all the crap off, and on our day off our tour manager will try and find a cool, scenic place or a hot tub where you get a discount cos it’s winter.”
Always serious about representing their communities in the rock and punk scene, the duo believes visibility is a key part of opening the door for other black punk acts. However, in the beginning they felt alienated form the scene due to the fact that punk aesthetics are at the same time innovative but extremely strict, and despite the fact the movement is linked to anti-racism and leftist political ideologies, it’s still a white male-dominated scene. “People didn’t know where to put you on the playlist, or people wouldn’t have you play here because you didn’t ‘look rock’.” That’s one of the main reasons that led Amy and Georgia to start the Voices for the Unheard Instagram series in June 2020, as part of their efforts to further conversations around the Black Lives Matter movement, interviewing renowned artists including Big Joanie, Connie Constance and Oxymorrons, among others, about liberation, anti-racism, personal style and more, plus an exclusive Spotify playlist. Furthermore, the project culminated in a vinyl compilation and a live show on Dr. Martens’ Instagram. “We thought we were in a band just like any other band, but, as we went along, we slowly realized that when we were playing these festivals, we were looking at people that didn’t look like us backstage, and the people playing on stage didn’t look like us either. We would see people in the audience that looked like how we felt growing up, coming to shows like this. So then we were like, ‘We have to do it for them’. We are representing so much more that isn’t supported in the industry, in the mainstream, or anywhere at this point,” commented the duo.
They’ve also started seeing a lot more inclusivity in the alternative music scene, with lots of women, non-binary people and people of color being part of a new wave of rising talent, and having faced several hurdles as black women in rock music they’re more than fine as being role models to those up-and-coming artists. “We don’t shy away from being role models because, whether you like it or not, you are a role model if you have lots of people going to your Instagram every day and checking what you’re saying. We had so much difficulty at the beginning, and we don’t want that to be the case for new bands starting out now so we just like to boost people and make them feel confident and that they can strive to do anything.” And that’s why Amy and Georgia are so awesome, using their music not only to entertain us all, but also to make the whole world a more inclusive and, therefore, much better place to live.
Nova Twins’ Official Facebook page
Nova Twins’ Official Instagram
Nova Twins’ Official YouTube channel
Nova Twins’ Official Twitter
“Own your power. Whether it’s owning who you are, where you’re from. Your power could be your culture, where you’ve come from, what you’ve been through. Own it.” – Amy Love
“The world is limitless to you. There are no limits or ceilings to what you can do. The world is Supernova – you can break through.” – Georgia South
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