London rock duo Nova Twins, blast into Liverpool’s O2 Academy 2 for a sold out show filled with power and urban punk attitude.
The duo, formed by childhood friends, vocalist/guitarist Amy Love and bassist Georgia South have realised two albums to date, ‘Who Are the Girls?’ (2020) and ‘Supernova’ (2022) and built an enviable reputation as a live act and their innovative combination of bass heavy riffage and rave influenced electronica.
Having won Best U.K. Breakthrough Band in the 2020 at Heavy Music Awards and toured with the likes of Skunk Anansie, Prophets of Rage, and Fever 333, they’ve served their apprenticeship in lofty company. The legend that is Tom Morello from Prophets of Rage going as far as stating ‘This is an incredible band who deserve to be huge’.
They’ve recently added a Brit award nomination to the list of plaudits, so it’s no surprise the band are gaining popularity at a rapid rate. A sold out UK Tour is testament to this and it’s safe to assume this might be the last time we’ll see Nova Twins in a room of this capacity.
Ahead of the main event, Glaswegian band ‘Uninvited’ are the first up on stage. Having seen them live last year it’s clear they’ve made massive progress since then. Unusually for a three band bill, the room is almost full from the off and the band definitely feed off the energy. Stand out track from their short set was the anthemic punk pop of ‘Behind the Back Door’.
Next on the bill are heavy hitting Mancunian punk 4 piece Witch Fever. Their album ‘Congregation’ has received an affirmative response from music critiques and fans alike. With every song they are reinforce just how good they are. Dark themes, heavy riffs and the amazing powerful voice of Amy Walpole should see this explosive band following in the same trajectory as tonight’s headliners.
Far from being shy retiring types, Nova Twins kick off their set with their signature statement of intent, ‘Fire and ice’, Super heavy riffs, distorted guitar and a soaring sing along chorus, it’s the perfect opener.
‘Cleopatra’ and ‘Toolbox’ from 2022’s breakthrough Supernova LP keeps the momentum going! Amy Love tells us how great it is to be back in Liverpool, even reminiscing that they once played a gig at the now defunct venue ‘Sound’. Like all too many independent venues around the country, a victim of corporate greed.
Introductions are made to their touring drummer, hailing from Liverpool it’s no surprise it triggers a massive cheer within the gathered crowd.
After this short interlude, the band get back at it. This time with the trippy vibe of ‘Wave’ which is followed by ‘Puzzles’ and ‘Taxi’ from their 2020 debut album. By this time the temperature in the venue is matched by the ferocity of the mosh pit as it swallows up most of the audience like an intergalactic supernova!
The vocal gymnastics of Amy as she mixes genres with clever couplets of rap, rhyme and soaring harmonies has this reviewer in mind of a young Gwen Stefani and No Doubt at the peak of their powers. Combined with the pedal board wizardry of Georgia South it makes Nova Twins a uniquely powerful proposition, especially live!
As my debut Nova Twins experience I am very impressed, thankfully so are the fans… The unrelenting mosh pit continues to err….mosh through the rest of their set.
There’s an unwavering feistiness to their repertoire, they’ve pretty much created their own unique genre, a mash-up of metal, dance, punk with some George Clinton thrown in for good measure – sci-fi p(f)unk, it’s only matter of time before they spawn a whole new scene!
Fan favourites are clearly ‘KMB’, ‘Play fair’ as the mosh pit finally implodes, pandemonium ensues as they finish up with ‘Sleep Paralysis’ .
The encore kicks off with ‘Antagonist’ & ‘Undertaker’, before unleashing the secret weapon that is ‘Choose your fighter’.
It’s been an amazing evening in the company of three hugely talented bands. With an all female line up, tonight went a long way to highlighting the conundrum of why are so many festival line ups still mostly dominated by male bands? We are living in 2023, times are a-changing!
With the likes of Nova Twins leading the charge, let’s hope there’s a move away from this archaic thinking very soon.
Words and pictures: Tom Adam