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Nun Nicer.
Local metal band Nun Nicer, whose current line-up consists of brothers John, Will and Dan Zappia, has released its debut CDEP, ‘Strife’s A Bore’, and been hard at work recording its first video clip. John – the bass player, vocalist, and sole remaining original member of the band – explains, "We formed about five years ago, and since then, have played gigs, released an EP, and had a full line-up change, which turned out to be a good thing. I was originally with two other blokes, and when they went their own way, it was the perfect opportunity for Dan and Will to get in on it."
The band’s rather unusual name was apparently inspired by an old tobacco tin that the original members found at a party. The tobacco’s brand-name was ‘Three Nuns’, and the tin also had the slogan ‘None Nicer’ on it.
"Lots of people might hear the name and think it’s a bit of an egotistical thing," says John, "but that’s not how it’s intended: as us being ‘none nicer’. We just thought it sounded cool, and decided to spell the first part of it N-U-N."
While the distinctiveness of the group’s name has had its advantages, it has also had the drawback of making it a little difficult for the band to perform gigs, some venue owners apparently taking offence to the title (a problem also encountered by an American band I spoke to last year called Nun Slaughter).
The band featured in the middle of the bill for last year’s Metal Xmas, which John says went well. "We played kind of halfway through the day which was an all right spot," he recalls. "It would have been better to play a bit later, but our set went down really well.
"It was quite funny, though. When we started playing, all of the full hardcore/metal dudes migrated up to the back, and then all of the little fifteen, sixteen year-old girls came to the front!" he laughs.
He goes on to tell me that, because the group are into making music that is a little bit different, their live shows tend to elicit a noticeably divided response from the audience. "A lot of people will be embracing it, going, ‘That’s wicked’," he says, "while others won’t even want to hear half a song."
Adds Will, the group’s drummer, "We find, though, that people who are really into music, and appreciate good music, have always got good stuff to say to us."
The production of the band’s CD was apparently a fairly straightforward affair. "We went into this place in the city called Industry Studio," states John. "The guy who runs that is nice, and has a really good set-up. He doesn’t do a whole lot of metal stuff, but we thought that that was actually a good thing."
"Initially we were just going to record two songs, maybe make a demo we could send out," says Will, "but ended up churning out four."
"Putting it all together was a very quick process," John goes on, "and we were really happy with it; now we want other people to hear it. We sell it in the shops for $6, so it’s not a moneymaking venture by any means. We’ve done the maths on it, and even if we sold every copy, we probably wouldn’t turn out a profit anyway! But it was a good way to get us out there and have people hear our stuff, and it sounds awesome; we didn’t do any overdubs. It’s all pretty much a live recording, albeit in the studio.
"A lot of people get a surprise when they hear that, but I think the fact that it’s not doctored and is pretty raw and true to what we do is probably a good thing. I think it’s just more indicative of what we actually sound like. We didn’t want to go and produce the shit out of ourselves so that we sound unbelievable and then wonder where to go from there. When we find somebody who likes us and wants to help us out, we’ll spend time and do the whole production thing, but for the time being, I think it’s just about the songs and about us writing good music."
One of the songs from the EP, a piece called Digest This
(which John describes as a "catchy, ballad-like song"), is featured
on the band’s video clip. "A friend of ours called Nick Rowe
came along and did some filming," explains John. "We went down
to our parents’ company’s warehouse, and cleared a heap of stuff
out to make a blank wall. We got some additional help from another
friend of ours: this young local film-maker called Chris Allen.
He’s really creative; for example, he’s got the ability to stand
on a moving forklift and film. Because we’re in a warehouse,
we have some pretty cool little toys to play with, so we’ve
tried to do the whole Spielberg thing with a hand-sized camera,
and Nick filming the whole time as well. It’s a pretty primitive
clip and hasn’t been edited, but it looks quite good."
The conversation moves back to the subject of the band’s music
which John attempts to sum up for me. "I guess we try to do
really soft, vulnerable stuff and then the total contrast, and
I think we’re getting better and better at that now. For example,
Cough It Up is really ultra-quiet and lovely before it
just goes totally nasty. Our songs change pretty dramatically
like that, but at the same time, they still make sense. We don’t
try to chop them up too much and be too technical; we just like
to explore a range of feelings."
James Brazel
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Nun Nicer play with Insect-Seeking Technology and Mid-Flight Dice at the Jive Bar on Fri 6 Feb. ‘Strife’s A Bore’ is out now.
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