I guess 'hangover' is a good word for it, poetic innit. Not just because we each tricked our livers into surviving 3 weeks of tequila, but we were also coming down from the amazing sunshine, beaches, long lost friends, new friends, family and music. Oh the music...

I was just going through some of the photos Rach, Fi, Antonio, Chris and I snapped during November and December 2012 and reminding myself that a trip to summery OZ - with a bunch of gorgeous musicians - just as London dips into deepest darkest winter - was such a gloriously indulgent experience. I highly recommend you try this!

We had the pleasure of showing our London gig chum and tour partner, Antonio Lulic, around OZ for his first time and we also recruited OZ newbie Chris Roos (AKA The Koala) as our roadie, door man, merch man, soundcheck man and beer man. Even though we NB lasses are all from Australia originally, it's easy to forget after 10 ish years just how vibrant and friendly and happening the music scene in OZ is. A quick shout out to Tané Emia-Moore who we met in Geelong, and travelled to our Sydney gig to support us a second time. Cool dude. Melbourne in particular never disappoints when it comes to live music venues and choice acts.

So here's a bunch of pics that tell the story of 10 gigs in Australia, 1 radio slot, 1 gig in a VW Combi (video coming soon), over 3300 kms of road, sing-a-longs in the van, selling out of CDs, jam-packing out Rach & Fi's home town venue, Kangaroo spotting at the side of the highway, chicken parmas, days on the beach... better than words can.

Thank you Australia, we're so inspired and writing our faces off right now for a new EP. We'll be back at the live gigs from Spring, see y'all then.

Amy, Rach & Fi.

Oh and p.s., you can now listen to our album-sneak-peak on Soundcloud or buy the album on iTunes.

FRIDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2012
Nova's Basement and Antonio Lulić
The Palais, Hepburn Springs

SATURDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2012 - 3pm
Nova's Basement and Antonio Lulić
Pure Pop Records, St Kilda

SATURDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2012 - 8pm
Nova's Basement and Antonio Lulić
Bar 303, Northcote

SUNDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2012
Nova's Basement and Antonio Lulić
Karova Lounge, Ballarat

WEDNESDAY 21 NOVEMBER 2012
Nova's Basement and Antonio Lulić
With Tane, Al Parkinson, Kyle Taylor, and Jamie Pye
Barwon Club, Geelong

SATURDAY 24 NOVEMBER 2012
Nova's Basement and Antonio Lulić
Live on Phoenix FM, Bendigo

SUNDAY 25 NOVEMBER 2012
Nova's Basement and Antonio Lulić
The Front Café and Gallery, Canberra, ACT

TUESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2012
Nova's Basement and Antonio Lulić
The Red Rattler, Sydney, NSW

THURSDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2012
Nova's Basement and Antonio Lulić
The Armidale Club, Armidale, NSW

SUNDAY 02 DECEMBER 2012
Nova's Basement and Antonio Lulić
The Beetle Bar, Brisbane, QLD

We might try and squeeze in a few more shows along the way. Maybe. Who knows? Watch this space.

Oh, and we've had the official confirmation - the Album will be out on iTunes from Monday the 19th of November woop woop. Here's a special sneak peak of 3 of the tracks you can find on the Album:

Last week we explained that things have been a little quiet around the NB house while we concentrate on our new album and the Summer we're NOT having in the UK.

This week I'm proud to report: there is a Summer! In fact, in a few hours we'll be sunning ourselves in the rays on a rooftop in the East end, chatting about the Album with our old friend Ian Dowling, and no doubt nursing a cold beer. Mmmm.

Given this sunny situation, we've chosen our most sunny song to share today: Better. Better was written after a trip to gorgeous Portugal, where everything was bright and glowing and happy and better. Which made going back to the city all the more gritty and depressing.

Here it is. Enjoy! x

Oh the wheels are turning
and the sun is glowing
toward the sea I'm going
where good times are coming

Oh better, better, better, better
better, better, Ooo better.
Oh better by far

Image by hom26

So, while everything is a little quiet around the NB house we'll be publishing a series of blog posts with the lyrics to our recently released tracks. Starting with Her James Dean, especially for you geyna87!

Love NB x

Her James Dean

Walking down that lonely path of lust and want, she tells herself
Start afresh, start anew but she can't forget you
Oh her James Dean

She says him, James Dean my Romeo well let me be your Monroe
This time, you're mine
And he became her James Dean
Her James Dean
Her James Dean

It was a fantastic evening with some absolutely amazing sounds from @Escapistsmusic @colour_movement @CommonTongues @Halflight_music playing to a huge crowd with HUGE personalities. Signing body parts, epic pete-dancing, cello dramas and solutions, bubbly galore... what a night! Here are some pics of the hilarities:

It was one of our favourite gigs ever, thank you for making it so special!

And if you missed us last night, we're playing again this Friday evening at the Troubadour in Earls Court. A magical venue of candles, teapots and serious gorgeousness. See you there!

Don't forget you can listen to the tracks from the EP in full on Soundcloud, watch a brand new music video for Fiver on YouTube.

NB x

WOW! Over 2000 hits on YouTube in only a few days for our new single and music video ‘Stop Hurting’… thank you SO much to everyone who spread the love!

We’re still spreading the word and would LYAFL (Love You All For Life - think it'll catch on?) if you could help us get 'Stop Hurting' out to as many people as possible. As a little incentive, we’re going to place everyone who shares the track into a raffle to win 1 of 10 NEW SIGNED EPs to be released mid Feb.

Here's a few ideas to get you thinking...

Like we said, 10 signed CDs up for grabs. Easy. Presents from us to you. Ready... set... GO!

Oh, and don't forget to come back and tell us what you shared. We'll do our own sharing by filming the draw and posting your lucky lucky names in a future post. Lucky.

Ciao for now and good luck!

NB x

We are also super excited to reveal our brand new Music Video by the very talented Gareth Axford:

A little bit about the song and the collaboration

Stop Hurting was written about 7 years ago after a trip to a beautiful Australian seaside town with a lighthouse. We've tried different things with the tune during the many times we've performed it... We've gigged it with piano, violin, cello and percussion, but late last year we finally settled on a stripped back arrangement that features simple acoustic guitar and 3-part vocals almost all the way through.

Late one evening after a rehearsal, we had an idea to create an animation to accompany this single for our new EP. We wanted a character who was innocent and sweet to take the journey with this tune, so we immediately thought about a collaboration with the talented illustrator & animator Gareth Axford. Gareth has a quirky and innocent style and spends his time tucked away with his art in country Wales after he made his own escape from London in recent years (much like the character in the music video).

We absolutely loved working with Gareth and he *really* delivered on our vague brief to 'not be too literal, make it your own'... and sniff, the end result made us shed a tear a two (see the twitter evidence).

Thank you Gareth, and thank you to everyone for the kind messages and tweets of support these past few days.

Watch this space for the full EP release on the 6th of February!

NB x

Not only do we consider talented artists Kal Lavelle & Antonio Lulic as good friends, but they also let us gig with them sometimes too!

That’s exactly what we did last Friday at the wonderful, and final Acoustic Domestic gig of the year. Performing just how we like it, in an acoustic and intimate setting, we were given the opportunity to play alongside some seriously special artists/musicians in the Acoustic Domestic, Christmas special and boy did we LOVE IT!

The evening ended with a massive session where everyone got their instruments out and jammed along to songs like Michael Jacksons ‘Billie Jean’ & ‘Zombie’ by the Cranberries (N.B. even got the chance to play their very own rendition of ‘Disarm’ by Smashing Pumpkins!) Check out Sir Jon Barker's memoirs of the night here.

A massive shout out to Antonio and the rest of the crew for letting us join in the fun.

Here’s to many more Acoustic Domestic's to come in 2012!

NB

xx