After spending the last year delivering a bold and thrilling array of uplifting anthems, Brighton-based outfit Naipia now return with their first offering of the new year, 'Bluestown'.
Capturing more of the same bright and blistering aesthetic they have shown so far, 'Bluestown' makes for an incredible vibrant return. Jam-packed with euphoric hooks, soaring production, and killer vocals throughout, this one will have you begging to get back into the summer sun once again.
So with the new single available now, we sat down with them to find out more about their background and what has inspired them most over the years.
-
What was the first instrument you fell in love with?
Guitar was the first instrument I had in my hands, It was my dad's who played left handed. This went awfully as you would expect for a right handed person, but by the age of 6 I was given the best birthday present a boy could want. A little nylon string acoustic, to which I still own to this day.
What kind of music did you love as a teenager?
As a teenager I was well balanced between listening to what was in my home, things like Motown/Paul Weller/Clash/Bruce Springsteen/Beatles/Simon and Garfunkel. But I was also listening to what I considered at the time as rebellious stuff, of which now I know is just music my family didn’t like. But there were a lot of the classics such as Green Day/My Chemical Romance/YouMeAtSix/Red Jumpsuit Apparatus which towards my later teens turned into Foals/Dallas Green/Bombay Bicycle Club.
What is the one song you wished you could have written yourself?
There’s many, but to be known as the guy that wrote Bohemian Rhapsody wouldn’t be too bad. I mean what a timeless piece of music.
Do you have any habits or rituals you go through when trying to write new music?
There's constantly new habits and forms of trial and error for us when it comes to us writing tunes. But there is only one constant that we try to concentrate on when writing, which is to be as fully in the now as you can be and to not think too much. Of course later down the line of a song's journey we may take some time to seriously consider parts and sections. But it is most important to us to write authentically, of which we believe is lost when you have to think about what you're playing too much at the very start of a song's journey. We tend to follow the ideas that pop out of nowhere and come together quickly, these are the ones we enjoy to play the most.
Who are your favourite artists you have found yourself listening to at the moment?
At the moment we are really enjoying some up and coming artists such as “Kid Kapichi”, these guys have been a huge inspiration sonically for us, we know big things are coming for these lads. We’ve also loved everything “Marthagun” have been releasing as well as a local band to us “Five Kites” and “Pleasure Trap”. We also spend our lives swapping Spotify finds and new releases, a few that we’ve swapped between us in the last week would be “Royal Blood”/ “Private Island” / “Kid Bloom”.
How many of your songs have you written about people in your life?
We’ve written songs about Times in our lives / places and spaces we’ve been in and relationships we’ve had with people. I don’t think we’ve ever consciously gone out and written a song about someone specifically and if we have it coming from the perspective of us rather than calling someone out. Songs shouldn’t be weapons unless they have a political agenda, they should be stories. Of course this is only our opinion.
What has been the funniest or most unusual moment in your career so far?
We’ve got a few funny stories we could tell you, but managing to wangle ourselves into the V.I.P area of Reading festival and mixing with bands like ‘1975’ and ‘blossoms’ has to be up there with one of our favourites. A complete fluke.
If you could open a show for anyone in the world, who would it be?
We would love to open for ‘Catfish And The Bottlemen’. They have been one of our biggest inspirations to be in this band and have worked so hard to base our career on their morals and beliefs. So to support them and have the opportunity to share a beer and conversation with those guys would be a proper dream come true.
If you weren’t a musician, what other path do you think you might have taken?
I guess the ying to my yang is gardening/being in nature. It's how I’ve had to fund my bills since I was a teen and being outside and orchestrating nature in a garden is something I'm passionate about. So maybe I could have paired the passion with some sort of conservation project. I would have loved that. But for now, I’m married to the music.
And what is the best piece of advice you have received as a musician?
My best advice to any musician would be to stick to what you love doing in music and practice it a lot. This industry can be difficult at the best of times and if you can't hand on your heart say you love the art you're creating, it must feel almost like an impossibility.
-
Naipia's new single 'Bluestown' is available to stream and download now. Have a listen to it in the player below.