Alternative rock duo Nova Twins are redefining the boundaries of present-day rock ‘n’ roll. Consisting of vocalist and guitarist Amy Love and bassist Georgia South, the two have spent the last several years breaking down barriers in the music industry, bringing forward both a hard-hitting ethos and an unmistakable sonic identity. After releasing two ground-breaking full-length records — Who Are The Girls? (2020) and Supernova (2022) — Nova Twins are now gearing up for the release of their third studio album Parasites & Butterflies, out August 29 through Marshall Records.
Since their musical debut, the London-based duo have established for themselves a distinct artistry, one that combines heavy electronic elements with gritty industrial rock. While their signature musicality cemented Nova Twins as a seemingly larger-than-life outfit, the duo’s newest record brings forward a newfound sense of vulnerability. Parasites & Butterflies portrays Nova Twins at their most human level — but the music is more visceral than ever before.
On their newest album, Love and South embrace darkness and light, with the two musicians exploring their journey of accepting both beauty and chaos. These two opposing elements are balanced flawlessly on the record, with the body of work maintaining a masterful fusion of softness and grit. Across 12 twelve tracks, heartfelt honesty is delivered with a mean left hook.
Parasites & Butterflies exudes undeniable empowerment, with tracks like “Soprano” and “N.O.V.A.” tackling themes of mental health, feminism and overcoming the music industry. Through their iconic genre-bending sounds and unwavering activism, Nova Twins are one of rock music’s most impactful and unforgettable figures.
Initially starting as unbreakable childhood friends, Love and South formed Nova Twins in 2014. After releasing their self-titled EP in 2016 and setting out on the road with an extensive touring schedule, Tom Morello labelled Nova Twins as “the best band you’ve never heard of.” In the years that followed, Nova Twins shared the stage with the likes of Muse, Yungblud, Foo Fighters and Lenny Kravitz before releasing their debut full-length record Who Are The Girls? in 2020.
As they continued to carve a space for themselves in the rock music industry, Nova Twins were equally as passionate in their activist efforts. In 2021, the duo called on the MOBO Awards to create a Rock/Alternative category that year. In response, the following year, the 2022 MOBO Awards introduced a new category, titled Best New Alternative Act, and nominated Nova Twins.
Also that year, Nova Twins released an album titled Nova Twins Presents: Voices For The Unheard, which featured both up-and-coming and well-known POC artists in the rock, punk and metal music scenes. Proceeds from the limited-edition release went to The Black Curriculum, a company that aims to improve the teachings of Black History in the U.K.
Continuing to ride the wave of their massive commercial success, Nova Twins released their sophomore follow-up album Supernova in 2022, earning the title of Band Of The Year from Kerrang! Magazine. In 2023, Nova Twins earned praise from Elton John after their Glastonbury set, with the singer describing the duo as “phenomenal.” Over the next several years, the band supported both Foo Fighters and Lenny Kravitz on their respective tours and appeared on the covers of Alternative Press, NME, Rock Sound and more.
Now, Nova Twins are preparing for the release of Parasites & Butterflies, their third full-length record. In the midst of an electric new musical era, the duo sat down with Melodic Magazine right after their weekend of performing at the Long Beach date of Vans Warped Tour to discuss musical goals, the making of their new album and why they continue to fight for POC artists and women in rock music.
First I wanted to ask, obviously you have so many exciting things coming up, but you just played Warped Tour over the weekend over at Long Beach. How was that for you guys?
Georgia South: It was so fun. We felt so honored to be part of the 30th anniversary of Warped Tour as well. We’ve never played it before, and we were on quite early, so we were expecting not many people to be there, but it was flooded with so many people. The energy was so high. People were so lovely and receptive and we just had the best time.
I’m so glad to hear it! In terms of shows after the new album comes out, I did want to ask too about your upcoming headlining tour in Europe and the U.K. this fall. What are you guys most excited for with that run of shows?
Amy Love: We’re super excited to connect with our audience again. We love festival season, it’s so much fun because you get to be introduced to new people and you get to see a lot of bands. You don’t often get to see that on the road. But when you do a home show or just a show to your audience, there’s nothing quite like it. We do a lot of it for them, do you know what I mean? It’s a really nice relationship, but it’s always so crazy and it’s high energy, and we see people that have been there from the start, when we first started as a band. So it’s our favorite. We’re just so excited for it. We’re just getting ready for it at the moment, with production rehearsals and getting the set together. We’re already playing some of the new songs right now, but we’re going to be adding more, so they’ll get the exclusive on the full album.
The new album Parasites & Butterflies arrives August 29, which is such an exciting moment for you. It’s been a few years since the previous album came out; how have you two changed as musicians or as people over the last couple of years?
GS: I think we’ve just had so many different life experiences. Through touring Supernova, that was the first time we’ve ever toured across the world, and we had so many crazy adventures which we absolutely loved. We love touring so much, but coming out of the back of that, we weren’t used to how we would feel coming back home after two years of extensive touring. So I think we learned about ourselves in terms of how much to balance our mental health, and how that is important to keep on top of. Writing this album, it was more challenging compared to the last two because we did have a shorter deadline. We were kind of sleep deprived (laughs), and in more of a different headspace compared to how we were when writing the first two albums, but we feel very proud of how we’ve dissected it and communicated it. We’re so proud of this album because it shows a lot more depth and vulnerability as well.
Is it ever difficult for you to be vulnerable with your lyrics or bare yourself open to your audience? Is there ever any hesitation with that kind of thing?
AL: Yeah, I think previously we presented ourselves as more superhuman, like no one could touch us, nothing could get us down. And with this, we just let it flow and didn’t really hold back. It’s like, ‘Okay, we are human, we all have these experiences. We all feel these different things,’ and it’s important to acknowledge both sides of the spectrum or both sides of the coin, so to say. We just let it flow, really, and whatever came out, came out. We’ve never really planned concepts or themes, it just happens. We write where we are at at the time, and that’s where we were at.
One of the main themes on the record is this concept of duality, or balancing both beauty and chaos, lightness and darkness. What were the aspects of yourselves that you had to learn to balance that inspired that concept for this album?
GS: When we first started writing the album, the first few songs did feel very dark, so we were like, ‘As much as we were feeling in this place right now, it doesn’t actually represent how we feel in general because this is just one point in time, and there does need to be hope because we are very hopeful people.’ So we found a light on the album as well. And that’s why you see the duality of songs like “Soprano,” and then you have songs like “Parallel Universe” or “Hummingbird.” It’s important to reflect two different sides of a coin because that’s just human. One day you’ll feel really down, but the next day there is hope.
With that concept of duality, with you two obviously being a duo, do you think that concept plays into your relationship as bandmates as well? Do you two maybe balance each other out?
AL: Definitely. Being a duo and having that duality, not just in Parasites & Butterflies and that theme but also in our life and our lifestyle, we definitely are like Yin and Yang. But we both take it in turns to be Yin or Yang (laughs). And it’s with everything. When one’s feeling down, the other one’s generally not, and then we manage to pick each other up. Or when we go into situations, we go into it together. The industry is a tough old place (laughs), definitely not for the faint-hearted, and we always say we’re quite lucky to have each other. It doesn’t feel so isolating when we’re on tour. We’re away from our families a lot, but when we have each other, it just feels a little bit more like home wherever we go. When I’m by myself all the time I feel awful (laughs).
You mentioned the music industry and how it’s just a hard thing to pursue, and being two women pursuing rock music, it is harder. What has your experience been like in the rock music industry over the years? Has it gotten better over time?
GS: When we were first starting out, it definitely wasn’t great, because men just don’t expect much from female musicians. Whenever we would step into a space, we’d be the only women there most of the time, and definitely the only women of color. And they’d always expect us to either be backing dancers — even though we would have our guitars literally on our back — or they’d just expect us to be really bad. So we always had a quite a fun time just ripping these shows apart (laughs) and just seeing people’s reactions after and just changing their mindset. There’s so many incredible female musicians, and it’s amazing to see that now it’s a lot more accepted, and on festival bills it’s slowly getting better. It’d be nice to seeing more women on later slots, I’d say, because they love to put women really early on in the day (laughs), but it is getting a lot better.
Going off of that too, in your music over the years, you’ve always prioritized amplifying women and POC artists in rock music. With these two concepts specifically, why are they so crucial for you to talk about in your music?
AL: We just feel that no one should have to struggle to exist, and we all have a right to do whatever we want to do. When we first came on the scene, it was very hard for people to understand. The audiences were quite accepting of us in terms of when we played the show and won them over. But when it comes to the industry, it was very much like, ‘Well, you should be a bit more hip-hop. You should be more R&B. We can’t put you on a rock playlist because you’re not rock.’ But we were playing rock music (laughs). It was a rude awakening, really. So we had to form our own path. We just gigged and gigged because that is where we were accepted the most, on stage and in life. And then eventually, as the movement started pushing forward, BLM happened, and then people had more awareness that rock is a music of Black origin. It stems from rhythm and blues, and we’ve done a lot of things to make sure people understand its roots and why current artists and people of color are excluded from this genre. And it wasn’t even just within people of color. There were several white artists who were saying that they weren’t allowed people of color in their music videos because the label said that it’s not going to sell. So it wasn’t just from our point of view. It was also happening to other people who wanted a more inclusive world around them. It’s amazing to see how much progress we’ve made and looking at the diversity now, especially at rock festivals. It just fills our hearts with so much joy and pride, because this is how it should be.
In terms of breaking down barriers in the industry or just taking risks in general with your music, another concept on the new album that’s very prominent is this idea of embracing the unknown. That’s such a cool message to have on the record, but it’s also something that might be scary for a lot of people, diving into something they aren’t sure of. What advice would you share for listeners to encourage them to embrace the unknown or take those risks?
GS: Well, I think even subconsciously, we’re always diving into the unknown. We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the next 30 minutes, you know? So I think we’re all already doing it. I think if you see it more like that and less like, ‘I’m going to dive into this scary thing (laughs),’ it will all become less scary. Somebody said an amazing thing to us once and it was, ‘People who don’t make mistakes never do anything, and life is about making mistakes and learning from them, because if you don’t then you’ll never grow and you’ll never learn.’ So don’t be afraid to make mistakes or try, because you’ve only got one life at the end of the day, as cheesy as it sounds. It’s true, and it’s not very long. So you just got to think what you want to do with it.
Over the years Nova Twins have done so many cool things and you’ve had such amazing success too. But what are still some goals that you have? What do you still hope to do with your music or as a band?
AL: We still have a lot of goals (laughs), but we’ve also learned it’s such an incredible opportunity to be able to be doing what we do. It’s so hard in the music industry, especially for bands who are not doing the norm, not doing that TikTok music, that punchline music, you know. So the fact that we can stay on the road doing what we love is such an achievement for us. And I think we’re trying to learn to live in our moment a little bit more. Yes, we’re also going to have goals, but that’s who we are as people. Whether it’s in our home life, whether it’s in our friendships, we always want to keep expanding and growing as people. But it’s not easy to be just here. For any band. So you have to appreciate the moment as well, I think, and look how far we’ve come and look what we’re doing. That is what we wanted to set out to do when we were two young girls imagining our future, and now the music is taking us around the world. We’ve met so many amazing people, met so many legendary artists and supported them as well, and seen so many amazing things. We are grateful for that. We don’t take that lightly.
When it comes to that album and everything we’ve discussed, what’s the ultimate message that you want to get across for listeners with this album?
GS: I think our message for this album is just as we said earlier, embracing the beauty and the chaos. Because you can’t appreciate beauty without going through chaos. And also, the unknown isn’t as scary as it seems. And it’s okay to be vulnerable as well. And always just speak out, check on people.
AL: Just be yourself.
GS: We say when we release the album it’s not ours anymore, and what one song might mean to us will mean something completely different to somebody else. So we’re excited to see how people take this album and have it as their own as well.
Any final thoughts?
GS: Just that we’re excited to come back to the States. We love playing shows out here. We want to play more. The crowds are so, so amazing. We just love the support out there, so we are dying to come back.
Pre-order Parasites & Butterflies here.
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