Messed!Up
Alternative Indie duo Nichole Hope Smith and Richard McNamara are paving the way for new dream pop, indie rock style songs. The single “Say It’s Just Us” brings influence of Robyn and The 1975 but completely comes into its own with its melodic guitar riffs and soft melodic tone to singer Nichole’s voice. Her tonal range and ability to come up with original and enchanting melodies over Richard on guitar. The band have progressed from their debut in 2019 technically and instrumentally.
I caught them on the second night of their ‘Simply Life’ tour in Manchester to have a chat about their tour, new music they are writing, and new members in the band. I was greeted at YES bar by Nichole and Richard, the friendly duo I was photographing later on.
We started our chat focused on the comparisons between the pizza on the first night of the tour and the pizza they tried that day. We then went on to discuss the fun and excitement of their current tour.
Discussing the tour
So I know it’s only day 2 of the tour, but how has it been so far?
Richard: “I think we are still pretty fresh, we took a photo on day 1 of the tour and we have taken another photo on day 2 and its still positive vibes.”
That’s good! Do you think you will all still be able to continue with positive vibes the whole way through?
Nichole: “I hope so!”
Richard: “There’s always room for it to go that way, but for the moment we are cool.”
So you all still love each other at this point then?
Richard & Nichole: “Yeah!” (laughs)
How have you been sourcing your supports throughout the tour?
Nichole: “We have a different support each night, some of the nights we have three support acts so it really varies. Our agent sent us some links of band demos and we decided what kind of sound we wanted from that.”
How has this been as a first headline tour?
Nichole: “It’s nice to be able to give bands the opportunity. We are usually the band supporting so we understand how it works and how scary it is walking into someone else’s gig and just being like..” (trails off)
Hello hi there! I am ready to open for you
Nichole: “Yeah exactly! And it’s super daunting. Everyone we have met supporting us on this tour have been so lovely though.”
What night are you most excited about on the tour?
Richard: “We are really excited about tonight! Manchester has always been good to us”
It’s sold out, hasn’t it?
Richard: “I think it almost has. We are also at Hebden Bridge tomorrow night which is the biggest show on our tour, and then Leeds we have always loved playing.”
That’s EEVAH’s home territory, isn’t it?
Richard: “Well, not far out. We are from Halifax, but you don’t really hear about bands from Halifax, do you?”
I suppose not! Doesn’t quite have the same ring as Leeds does.
Where would you say EEVAH sits in today’s music industry?
Nichole: “I would say for this EP, we are about to release our first full EP. It’s called Simplify Life and in this EP I think we are exploring trying to fit into a genre-based box. I would say with our songwriting, we go quite rogue. We will throw a song out there because we like it rather than thinking about whether it fits into a genre or sequence. We are exploring an indie rock vibe with bits of electronic music which is kind of where we started.”
New instrumental changes
How has that progressed from where you started?
Nichole: “It has definitely come together more as a band now after we introduced our drummer Faye in November. Before that, all our drums were on a track. After Faye joined it became much more of a band and hearing the tracks being played live on a drum kit has really helped build our sound.”
I know what you mean. With electronic drums, there is very little room to build energy especially when performing live.
Would you say your sound has progressed for the better then?
Nichole: “Yeah I definitely think so.”
Richard: “I think it’s opened us up to that palette to approach it from the new less produced point of view.”
Different methods of producing drums have their different benefits and problems but overall would you say that having a live drummer has improved the energy of the sets overall?
Richard: “I mean you have electric tracks which sound super pristine but there’s no element of chaos or excitement. I feel like watching three musicians perform together and you like it, it’s magical.”
Nichole: “I feel much stronger as a full band.”
Richard: “Nichole is learning and playing bass too.”
That’s so cool! How is it going so far?
Nichole: “It’s pretty basic stuff but it’s just so much fun.”
Are there future plans to expand further?
Richard: “There was talk of finding someone to play keys.”
Nichole: “I need to get used to this first, I reckon a year with this and then we will see.”
Richard: “More the merrier, especially when you are on the road”
Nichole: “Never say never but for now I’m happy how it is. I really just want to get better at bass for the time being. It’s definitely early days with the bass but it’s the best thing I love it.”
Are you playing it tonight?
Nichole: “I am yeah! Don’t judge me please.”
I wouldn’t dream of it.
Nichole: “I don’t know what it is about it. I know I’m not technically very good at it but it’s just so fun and I just do a bit and I like the vibe of playing bass. I feel so cool playing bass.”
Richard: “You’re really good at it! You aren’t playing all over the place and what you do play is always spot on.”
I’m excited to see!
Who does most of the writing?
Richard: “Nichole and I just usually jam together and try to produce things organically. Nichole is really good at coming up with a melody. The latest song we have done all came out almost in one practice of 3 hours”
Nichole: “It’s a kind of Liz Frazer kind of vibe where she just sings and it makes some kind of sense which is something to start with, even if that’s just mumbling. And then occasionally we will be jamming and kind of surprise ourselves.”
Are you suddenly writing things down as quickly as you can before you forget?
Richard: “We always come back to it and chip away at it.”
Nichole: “We are really lucky to have a studio space at home which means we can just record on a night and sometimes we never finish some things but we also sometimes get really inspired. We also have a patron where we release 2 songs a week which really helps keep us writing.”
Richard: “Ahead of the tour we had to create so much new music so that we could continue releasing songs every week.”
Wow! Now that’s some serious dedication. Isn’t your new album called Simply Life?
Richard: “Yeah, we didn’t think the title of that though, considering we have never made things simple for ourselves.”
No, I was thinking, you must love to work! Doesn’t it kind of seem like a cruel joke now?
Nichole: “Yeah it really is. We should think more carefully about our next EP title so we don’t keep becoming the joke of it.”
I really hope things can be simply relaxing and wonderful ahead of your show tonight! I am very excited to watch in the audience and take photos!
Nichole: “Thank you so much!”
Richard: “Thank you! See you later!”
All of EEVAH’s latest singles and earlier records are on Apple Music and Spotify. This genre-bending band is going to be one to watch with their diverse sound and ever changing genre influence.
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Photographer: Eliza Waite
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