By Arne Sjostedt
Bio
Founded on the creative coast of WA and guided by the tangy westerly breeze, Perth’s South Summit have arrived with an emotional and invigorating new tune - River Days - ready to pull listeners into their story.
“Epic track right here - it's got a little bit of everything! Gentle folk harmonies, yearning blues and then a swirling dubby climax. These competing parts of South Summit could seemingly overpower the track but this band nail the mix.” Triple J, Dave Ruby Howe
The song is a cry for help, says the band. Help to be spared from seeing those closest to you change for the worse.
Rock City Jester had a word with the group - to make sure they were still celebrating after making such an amazing tune.
Who are we talking to?
You are talking to South Summit, a Perth band formed in early 2020. Whilst being relatively new, we have played a fair few live shows including sell outs at The Rosemount, Jack Rabbit Slim’s and Convenients, as well as going into the studio to record some tracks. We play a combination of Indie and Alternative rock with reggae influences.
Who are the members of the band?
We are a 5 piece band, consisting of Zaya (singer), Nemo (rhythm guitar, backing vocal), Josh (bass), Fynn (lead guitar), and Nathan (drums).
Awesome song. What is the story behind your latest single?
River Days is a story coming from personal experience on the effects of alcohol abuse and how it affects the people closest to you. It encourages the listener to break bad habits and to find your own path.
How did you all meet?
We all met through our bass player Josh. Both he and Nathan went to school together and played in a cover band. When Josh left school he met Fynn at Uni, and then Zaya and Nemo through mutual friends. We started jamming in mid March 2020 and haven’t stopped since.
Please tell us about your musical heroes?
Coming from different upbringings our most influential musicians paved the way for us to help create our sound as a whole. We all grew up idolising legends like Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, The Police and the Beatles. These people changed our lives with music and are truly our heroes.
What about the non-musical ones?
Our family’s are our biggest non-musical heros, but have also had a big influence on us musically as well. Andy (our manager) is one of our biggest heros, and has helped a lot to get us where we are today and the progress that we have made in the year and a half of being active.
Do you think about politics when you are writing?
I wouldn't say we are too political as a band but we like to be aware of
that's going on around us and target certain issues to create awareness
in a respectable way.
River Days acknowledges not so much a political standpoint but more the
social issue of alcohol abuse.
Can you profile your fan base?
I’d say we have a wide appeal and we are not exclusive to any group. The majority of people who come down to our live gigs are around our age, young adults, but we regularly see people who are not in our immediate age group.
In terms of our online listening fan base, we have a wide variety of ages and genders that listen to our music and we really try and make our music available and likeable to the most people as possible.
We also have a large number of under 18 fans, so we are putting on a couple of all ages shows before the end of the year.
Describe your sound.
Our sound kind of flows between all of our different influences depending on what direction we feel like we want to take the song in.
The strongest influences we have at the moment are genres like Alternative/Psych Rock leads, Indie vibes and Reggae grooves. We really like to make each song it’s own by diving into it without our other music influencing how we write it.
What is your approach to songwriting?
Someone usually comes in with an idea and we just jam until it feels right. If we all like it, we then workshop it until it has a form. The bedding usually has something tight then Zaya usually comes up with a melody that he likes. Making sure everyone’s on the same page is vital when writing our music as it needs to feel good when playing.
Tell us about your favourite live show moment?
I think our favourite live show moment has to be at our latest gig at Jack Rabbit Slim’s. Despite Nath completely destroying his kick drum, it didn’t stop the crowd from having a great time and at one point, the whole crowd sang the chorus of Merlin’s, the title track of our debut EP. It was very powerful for us and it’s moments like these that make us want to do this as a career in the future.
Where can people find out about you and keep in touch with what you are up to?
You can find South Summit on all social media platforms where you can keep up to date on what we're up to and our music can be found on all platforms, including Spotify and apple music.
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RIVER DAYS
Walking in a straight line
How can I admit to the feeling, starting to fall
Never in the right mind
How can I commit to the healing, I'm losing it all
Hurting all the ones I love
Taking all the energy from me
Oh I'm searching for the extra love
So will you save me
From the waters that'll take me all away
Save me from the river
Save me from the river
So will you save me
From the waters that'll take me all away
Save me from the river
Save me from the river
Guided by the wrong signs
Replacing all the things that matter
It's drowning me alive yeah
It's drowning me alive
When it's pulling me closer
I can't control it
Losing my grip to the ground
Floating
Still searching for that extra love
So will you save me
From the waters that'll take me all away
Save me from the river
Save me from the river
So will you save me
From the waters that'll take me all away
Save me from the river
Save me from the river
When I float astray
I can't feel the pain
That's tumbles down
I let go
When I float astray
I can't feel the pain
That's tumbles down
I let go
So will you save me
From the waters that'll take me all away
Save me from the river
Save me from the river
So will you save me
From the waters that'll take me all away
Save me from the river
Save me from the river