Way back in February 2010 I had the chance to photograph a band at my local venue of Luxor Live, the band was called Nausica and they were booked to play a short gig in the entrance hall of the Luxor. And whilst I expected it would be pretty much impossible to get some good photos in the dimly lit entrance hall, I did it anyway, mainly because I had a listen to their music before the gig and really liked it. The entrance hall gig was cool and, even despite the challenging conditions, the band liked the photos I took and we stayed in touch afterwards.
About a year later I was invited to join them at the Sing Sing Studios in Metslawier, Friesland where they were about to record their first professionaly recorded and produced EP. It was pretty amazing to witness this process and to document it with my photos and I was really looking forward to hearing the EP which was planned to be released later that year. Sometimes though, things don’t go according to plan and you have to take the long way home. These long ways are never easy, but very often these are the most interesting paths to follow.
In the case of Nausica this meant, amongst others, working longer on the recorded material, re-recording some parts, getting heavily involved in an awesome community art and leisure project, cooperating with visual artists, looking for and finding a new drummer and writing new songs. All in all this process took them two years ahead in time. Until, finally, on April 19th 2013 it was time to present their EP to the public.
Just before the EP presentation party and gig, the band released a beautiful video for their song ‘Weapons Of Silence’, made by VJ Glitterende Eenhoorn. The vid is visually stunning, but what struck me most was how awesome the band sounded, so I couldn’t wait to see them live again.
And wow, almost nothing could have prepared me for how mindblowing their gig was… The ‘old’ songs (as the songs on the EP were basically over two years old now) sounded as fresh as ever, there was something magical about the coherence within the band and the new songs (about which guitarist Tim dryly remarked: “well, we had some time to write them”) were amazing. They grooved, they had a raw edge to them and as such they really complimented the older songs. One of the new songs ‘Jane Doe’ had a sort of Savages like ring to it, which I really, really liked. Oh and let’s not forget the VJ-ing and live drawing during the gig by VJ Glitterende Eenhoorn and Menah… Awesome!
So yes, it took them a while to get there, but in my humble opinion it very much seems like it was all worth it. What a trip and what an amazing result, not just the EP, but also the new songs, the awesome gig and a band that has really matured… Some might call this an epic journey and I would have to agree… But do you know what’s the best thing of all? Nausica’s journey has only just begun!
Opening act for Nausica was Jellephant (a.k.a. Jelle Haagsma), who set the mood with his shoegaze blues. And basically his t-shirt said it all: “life is killing my rock n roll”. It doesn’t get much bluesier than that…
Full photo galleries after the break…
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