Esquire Studio Sessions: Perth reggae-rock band South Summit
In our latest edition of Esquire's Studio Sessions, Perth-based indie rock band South Summit stopped by to discuss their role models growing up, the West Coast music scene versus the East, their stage outfits, and more
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On how they all met
Isaiah Reuben: We all actually met through music school, high school and stuff through a couple jams.
Fynn Samorali: We met kind of staggered. Josh and Nathan met in high school and they jammed together doing covers and whatnot with a couple friends. And then me and Josh met in uni and he asked me to join the band, and there was another guitarist and a singer. And then Josh and this guy over here met at a party and asked to join. But all from through friends and through school and whatnot.
Esquire Australia: What songs did you cover?
Nathan Osborne: We used to do heaps of Ocean Alley stuff. So that was like a bit of an early inspiration I think, as like 16 year olds just playing in the shed, having a bit of fun. So that was definitely a bit of early inspiration.
On starting South Summit
NO: The idea to start South Summit was just through love of the music, really. I’d say we’re all pretty talented at what we do as well. We’re all pretty good at our own songwriting. We just wanted to play music just altogether. We haven’t really had anything else in our lives that stood out as a career path apart from this, you know?
Esquire: What was it about the genres you work with that appealed to you guys?
IR: We all grew up on different music. Like me and Nemo are real reggae-inspired, from our Māori roots in New Zealand. I know Fynn, you get into a lot of . . .
FS: I’ll listen to pretty much anything, but I did definitely listen to a bit of reggae. I listen to a lot of neo-soul and jazz-inspired stuff, love heavy music too. The only thing I haven’t really got into is country. But yeah, we all do different stuff, and that’s how it comes about in our music. The songs feel like they go on different roads, not like one genre. What are our genres there, though?
NO: Reggae Rock. Alternative indie.
Nehemiah Reuben: Hip-hop as well.
IR: We don’t like to pigeonhole our sound into one sound, we are always trying new stuff, especially with our kind of new music as well.
On their role models
IR: Role models for me would probably be my parents, especially my dad. He’s a musician, so I was born into music. My grandfather was also in a band. I come from a long line of musicians and think if I can be half the men they are, then that’ll make me happy.
FS: My parents weren’t really musicians, but from a young age were like, “You gotta do it”. They just saw it as a real [passion]. They thought [music] was really important for someone to have that in a part of their life. So it ended up being my brother and me being role models for each other because we saw each other playing music, and we’re like, “Oh, I gotta do that”. That’s how we grew up.
IR: We’ve had all these great role models in our lives, so hopefully one day we can be role models to the youth as well. That’s a goal for us as well, to pave a good way for the youngins.
On their favourite Australian artists
NO: Australian music is just thriving at the moment. There’s a lot of really good talent. I mean, Ocean Alley, Amyl and the Sniffers are killing it, Tame Impala. But then also around the whole world.
FS: Also, the local band scene, maybe I’m biased ’cause we are in it, but it just feels like there are hundreds of local bands who have all got so much talent. And maybe part of that is the massive amount of support in the Australian music scene, especially in Perth, because it’s quite small. Everyone knows each other, so everyone’s showing up to each other’s gigs.
On the Perth music scene versus Sydney’s
FS: I think the main difference that we’ve noticed is that there are fewer venues and also fewer people. So there’s not a huge non-musician crowd, like the ratio of musicians to random punters at venues. I feel like every time we’re at a show in Perth, we’re seeing so many other bands coming up to support us, and then we’re going to their shows. And I feel like that is maybe just more heightened in Perth, and that’s why it feels like there’s a bit more of a support there, ’cause it’s like, ‘Oh, here’s this group of people that I know I’m going to see there’. So it’s just kind of like a rising tide lifts all boats. Everyone’s just in it together.
A great example of that is getting on a lineup in a festival in Tasmania, and you’re there and then you’ve just bumped into the local Perth band that you’ve been coming up with for the last two years, and you’re just both chatting to each other like, ‘What the hell are we doing here?’ Like, look at us in Tasmania playing together. So it’s a lot of that.
On their stage fits
IR: We came up in Perth playing on the beaches and stuff. But for my brother and me, we’re like an hour inland from Perth, so there’s a very hip-hop-inspired look there that I think comes across differently to a lot of other bands. We’re not your typical surf, rock look. And obviously, we’re Black, so in that look, there’s a difference there. I’d say a lot of hip-hop, R’n’B-inspired, a lot of street, and just representing where we come from.
FS: [Style] mirrors the differences in us, again, that we’re not all from the same place. We’re all, we don’t all wear the same stuff. But I guess we’ve been together for five years, so it’s somewhat cohesive.
IR: I’m turning into Fynn, Fynn’s turning into me.
Esquire: Do you guys ever share each other’s clothes?
IR: All the time. All the time. All the time.
NO: Like this is [Fnn’s] hat. We share clothes because I respect everyone’s fits. Everyone has really good wardrobes, so we’re just like, ‘Hey, I’ll take that from ya. I bloody wear that’.
IR: It would be pretty bad if no one was taking clothes from each other. So I’m happy that we’re borrowing each other’s bloody uniforms. And by the end of a tour, we’ve always got a piece of someone else’s clothing, and every time we see each other, we have to keep on trading back. We’re like a market.
FS: It feels better to wear someone else’s shirt because it always looks better. It feels like you just got a new shirt.
Esquire: Like something might look better to someone else, sort of thing.
IR: Yeah, that pisses me off. Nah, jokes.
Esquire: Tell me about the brands you’re loving right now.
IR: Shoutout to StreetX. They’re Perth-based, and we all grew up in high school wearing StreetX. It’s just clean, looks sick and it’s a good hometown hero for us in the clothing industry. We bring them out wherever we go across the east.
NO: We love to thrift as well, love to get secondhand clothing.
On their new single, “We Are”
IR: “We Are” is just about coming together. As far as an individual person goes, you can conquer more things when you have a village around you, and you’ve got that support. That’s probably the most thoughtful way to put it. But it’s just about being together with the boys, having a good time, kicking goals.
Esquire: In the lyrics, you guys use a lot of motifs from the natural world. Tell me a bit about those choices.
IR: Oh, I love animals! I think animals are a good representation of certain values in life, like a lion and bravery. That’s probably the most simple, and it sounds like we’re reading it out of a kids’ textbook, but I suppose just different animals represent different kinds of feelings and emotions for us. It’s really how the song’s feeling at the time. Use a lion or use a bird. Use a snake.
Nathan: Anything really. Hungry Hungry Hippos?
On Spilt Milk and their upcoming European tour
We’re really happy to be a part of that lineup. It’s a real privilege just to be among some crazy artists – everyone on that lineup is crazy. Just to be there with all that is just awesome. It’s our first ever touring festival that we’ve ever done, which is insane. Definitely ticked that one off the list of things that we wanted to accomplish.
Esquire: Your European tour, how are you guys preparing for that?
NO: We’re heading on a Europe tour with Tash Sultana in a few months. It’s gonna be a lot of playing the gig then getting straight in the van heading 12 hours to the next city. It’s definitely gonna be hard and fast, but that’s how we love it. It’s going to be an awesome time. It’s something that you tell your kids about, I reckon, one day.
Isaiah: Just as far as preparation goes, we’re just not letting the pressures of Europe get to our head, we’re treating it like we’re jamming at home.
See more of Esquire’s Studio Sessions:
Domus Vim on his sign-making practice
Del Water Gap on Chasing the Chimera
Sons Of The East talks music and life on the road
