Shady Nasty: “We needed to learn the ropes—what being in a band is, what our sound is, what we're happy with.”

Words: Jordan Royal | Photos: Kelsey Doyle

We caught up with Sydney trio, Shady Nasty, during soundcheck at Meanjin’s Black Bear Lodge, just hours before they wrapped up their sold-out TREK tour. Tucked away in a cozy booth at the back of the venue with warm lamplight scattered around and supporters already lining up outside the venue, the band reflected on the joys and chaos that shaped the sonic world of their debut album.

Jordan: Thank you guys so much for joining me ahead of your Black Bear show. I'm really excited to be chatting with you. I love TREK, so thank you so much.

Haydn: Thank you.

Kevin: Thanks for having us.

Jordan: I want to start off by saying that this album has been in the works for years now, which is really incredible. I mean, huge congratulations on the release. I think it's so special in that it acts as, like, a time capsule for, like, different sounds for you guys—your journey together. What has that experience been of making this album over such a long period of time and being almost part of your history in a sense?

Luca: Beautiful now that it's done.

Kevin: Ups and downs, but mostly downs.

Luca: It was honestly brutal trying to get over the line with an LP. We have tried for many, many years, and we finally got there. So it's like—I think we are over the moon that it's out and that it's work we're proud of. But, like, a lot of missteps.

Kevin: Not missteps—more like just learning experiences.

Luca: Yeah, learning experiences. And, like, just grinding really. Trying to make something that’s good so hard.

Haydn: I think at one point, I remember we were talking in the studio after we came out, and we were like, I wish we had a time machine where you can just jump into the future and it's done. Don't think about doing anything else—like, here’s the finished product. Don't go through the hell of it.

Kevin: It took us, like, what, three years? But that's not including us saying, "Oh, let's write an album," like, years ago.

Luca: I think those formative years of fail whale—we couldn't have done it without those years. We needed to learn the ropes—what being in a band is, what our sound is, what we're happy with.

Jordan: I think that, whilst that's sort of a treacherous journey, it means that you have something you can be really proud of now—like something that's so solid, that you guys have worked so hard on and that's so rewarding.

But one of the most striking things about you guys, I think, is how you write songs. It's very, like, live together, capturing the energy in the room. And I mean, there are some songs that, like you've mentioned, IDWL, completely transformed from the demo to the finished version. Was there a song that clicked for you guys in that process of organically fleshing something out? Did a track completely go left field at certain points?

Haydn: The one that came together the quickest, I think, was SCREWDRIVA. That one—yeah—we kept going into... because we were probably, at the time, doing IDWL and trying to make it into something that it ultimately wasn’t, and trying to make something that’s a bit heavier, a bit harder—a banger. And then we just stumbled on SCREWDRIVA. It all came together pretty quickly—all the parts. It’s probably more simple than other songs on the album to write as well, so that kind of helps. But that one was a bang - straight away.

Jordan: That's awesome. And that one’s, I think you've mentioned, one of your favourite songs as well—collectively?

Haydn: Yeah, I would say so.

Kevin: Probably because it came out the quickest.

Luca: Straight up and down.

Kevin: Fun to play.

Luca: Chuck it in the oven.

Jordan: Air fryer.

Luca: Yeah, exactly. Seriously.

Jordan: That's sick. And I mean, I have so much respect for your musicianship as well. You guys have a background in jazz, and then hip hop and punk comes in. I think how you use instruments as well—you guys are a three-piece, but you wouldn’t know that by listening to you live. It just sounds so expansive and dynamic. And I think you guys take instruments out of their stereotypical role. So how do you balance this experimentation while still creating space in your sound? How do you guys draw back at certain points and have that sort of setback approach?

Kevin: Me personally, for years, I would be getting roasted by these two. I think we all developed a dislike for the traditional sound of an electric guitar—distorted guitar, even clean guitar. We’re just like, ew.

Haydn: Just heard it a lot.

Kevin: Yeah. And for a long time, I was trying to make it sound more synthy. So, I guess in our previous EP, you might be able to get that sense with all the effects and stuff. That kind of just carried over. And it would always be these two [Haydn and Luca] being like, "Play less, play less, stop. We don’t want it to sound like guitar." And that’s kind of how that happened. That forced me to dive into the world of pedals and effects. And then I think that you [looking to Haydn] developed a very unique playing style with your harmonics and stuff on the bass.

Haydn: Yeah, I think mine is guitar. I started guitar as well, but I was doing fingerstyle guitar and things like that at school and uni and whatever. And I hadn’t played bass before and wasn’t very good at it—like keeping time, that sort of thing. So, I think just that stylistic choice has come about because I wasn’t good at the other one. So, it worked well. But yeah, those harmonics and things are a happy accident—that I found out how to do that. And I started listening to Jaco Pastorius, and I was like, "Oh, somebody’s done this before."

Jordan: His bass harmonics are crazy, hey.

Haydn: Yeah, they’re pretty nuts. So yeah, I was like, I wouldn’t mind borrowing a little bit of that.

Jordan: That's sick. That’s awesome. How you approach the bass, I think as well, it’s a five-string bass, it’s really cool how you approach that instrument.

Haydn: Thank you. I think of it more like a—it’s more like a piano. There’s chords and then there’s the bottom notes. Doing the, you know, like your left and right hand.

Jordan: It definitely comes through. I think how all of you approach your instruments is crazy. I think it’s so inspiring. 

All of these sonic elements come together, I think, in a way that really complements the thematic focus of this album as well. You guys delve into some topics of cultural identities and tension between your online self and your offline self as well. Why did you choose to explore these sorts of themes? What do you hope people take away from the songs in those senses?

Kevin: I think I’ve always found writing about love and stuff a little bit cringe. So, I decided to explore other topics—of which there are so many.

Luca: I think like I mean, obviously, love is woven in there, but it’s woven in in a way that makes sense to who we are and what we experience in our day-to-day life. It’s very, I don’t know, I think—maybe I’m speaking on behalf of all of us here but I really wanted music that described what it felt like to be in Sydney.

Haydn: A lifestyle.

Luca: Yeah, like the life that we actually live. We’re not just playing post-punk that could have been done in the '80s or whatever it was. I’m not throwing shade on anyone who does that, but it just, for us, I just don’t think it was particularly interesting. It’s just like, you want to make your own shit. Make stuff that actually represents your life.

Haydn: Yeah, I think that comes out lyrically and in the instrumentation.

Kevin: I think maybe why everything took so long was because we were so picky on trying to make things sound like us, and not so much like other artists. Even though, like, obviously, we take inspiration from a lot of things, but yeah.

Jordan: I feel like even listening to your music is like—I feel like you get to know you guys in a sense. And I feel like that’s really unique in your sound. I feel like with a lot of bands, you listen to their songs and feel like you don’t have a sense of self with them. But you guys just write clearly from your heart about your day-to-day lives, and I love that.

I have to say, though—there’s a huge, recurring symbol of cars. And I know that you love cars [looking to Kevin], and that the cover is your dad’s Lexus. Can you walk me through why you chose to incorporate that into the world of Shady Nasty?

Kevin: Well, the album is called TREK, and it’s about, like, our journey, our career, our life, you know, our life path—building this thing. And parallel to that, I guess, would be our parents’ journeys. Like, my dad was an immigrant from Greece, came to Australia with 200 bucks, picked up a shovel. And then, like, he’s just worked hard his whole life. And for him, the ability to buy a nice car was, like, everything for him. And I always knew the significance of that car to him. And for me, that was the parallel of his TREK.

Haydn: Pick up a shovel, pick up a Lexus.

Kevin: Well, it then took, like, 40 years.

Luca: We picked up the guitar.

Haydn: In 40 years, we might be able to have a Lexus too.

Luca: Obviously, we’re in radically different circumstances, but it’s still about going after what you believe is true, real, and fucking worth striving for. 

Haydn: The North Star.

Kevin: Yeah, that’s our Australian dream. And then, like, the backyard, washing your prized possession car—it’s like an Australian dream for a lot of other people in Sydney, and I guess in the world. So yeah.

Luca: Taking care of shit you love.

Kevin: That’s why I take care of you so much [Looking at Luca].

Jordan: I love that. I mean, it ties really well into the themes behind the album. And I guess you wouldn’t upon seeing the cover, go “a car,” and see that baton being passed through generations. But that’s such a beautiful connection. So, thanks for sharing that as well.

Kevin: I sold that car for him two days after the photo.

Jordan: That’s crazy. That’s so funny. And I think that you guys have such a visual world. Luca makes a lot of self-directed videos. I think it ties in so well. So, so well. I think that’s so interesting to watch as well. And how you sort of connect the real world to different platforms online, like Snapchat and stuff—I find it so interesting. Can you walk us through your approach to these visuals?

Luca: Yeah. I think—I mean, I never made a music video before starting this band. So, everything that’s available is pretty much every music video I’ve ever made. And prior to that point of beginning to make one, there was not a lot out there that I felt was true of what it just feels like to be, you know, in Sydney with a phone in your pocket and a phone in your life. And the experience of... I don’t know. It’s like, weird as this might sound—the experience of scrolling reels in public.

Haydn: Looking over your shoulder.

Luca: And just how bizarre that experience is—being connected to this thing that’s so global now, but also just being in a very local environment at the same time. And I feel like a lot of the visuals are geared towards trying to explore what it feels like to be someone who is having to live and negotiate all this online shit, but also living a very locally coded life as well. So I think that’s what it’s kind of about.

Jordan: I love how you explore that. I feel like I’ve never really seen that before. And I think that how you do it is really, really cool. I was like, I need to ask about this—I think it’s so awesome.

Luca: Oh, thank you so much. That’s kind of you.

Jordan: Of course. But we’re sitting in Black Bear Lodge, and this is the last show of your tour. How has the tour been so far? And are you guys excited for your last show? I know that you obviously have created this album over such a long period of time—so how is it to share it live with people?

Kevin: It’s epic.

Haydn: Yeah, the tour was great. It’s the most successful tour we’ve ever had.

Kevin: Every show sold out.

Jordan: Huge congrats.

Kevin: We got a mosh pit in Melbourne.

Haydn: Yeah, so hard to do.

Jordan: Oh, hell yeah. That’s crazy. People in Melbourne maybe just want to stand there, hey.

Luca: First mosh pit ever recorded in Melbourne. [Laughs] Nah, nah, not at all.

Haydn: Yeah. No, it’s been good, and it doesn’t feel like even the end of the tour, to be honest. It just feels like we’ve got irons in the fire.

Luca: Many irons. But it’s been, like, fucking awesome—for lack of a better term. It’s been sick.

Kevin: Yeah, people have been very, very nice to us. I guess over the years of making the album—speaking for myself—it’s very easy for me to just forget that I have this thing. Very easy to tunnel vision on everything else but the band. Because I guess it was such a hard process. Two times a week, go to the studio—most of the time come out feeling pretty down that we didn’t write anything good. Just doing that over and over and over again for years. And now that it’s done, I play these shows and I’m like, "Oh shit, I think we did alright." [Everyone laughs].

Jordan: I think we stumbled on something.

Kevin: Yeah, I think we cooked.

Jordan: Oh, that’s great. I’m super excited to see you guys live. I mean, during soundcheck, I was just sitting there like, “Oh, this is going to be crazy. This is going to be great.” So thank you guys so much for having a chat.

Haydn: Thank you.

Luca: Thank you so much.

Kevin: It was very sweet of you.

Listen to ‘TREK’ by Shady Nasty below.