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

Nova's Basement - Stop Hurting by novasbasement

We're also SUPER excited to be working with the amazing and talented Gareth Axford on a beautiful animation to accompany the track. Here's a sneak peak at this cute little character who will be taking a journey with us:

Our lovely friends filmed some beautiful moments on a range of devices during a private gig last year, but the footage gathered dust in a little corner of my (Amy) red WD hard drive for nearly 11 months (gasp). Truth is, things take time when you try and do all the things yourself. I started and stopped and rested and swapped and re-tried a few approaches before finally arriving at this edit of "Her James Dean". So without further ado, here it is!

A massive 'thanks' must go to the people who filmed this video:

Thanks x

The lovely Amy Solomon chatted to us about warm days, intimate studios, Camden venues (and dodgy venue bathrooms), being an all-girl-group on the London indie music scene, growing up in Australia, falling in love with London, proud fathers, fake cockney accents and shivery musical moments.

There's also a live performance of "Her James Dean" - one of the first recorded clips!

Oh, and lots and lots and lots of giggling.

Camden Community Radio Podcast, Sept 2011 by novasbasement

Camden Tube Image by quantum bunny

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Anyway, we absolutely love this drawing. Even though it is labelled 'Roadstop' and the venue is called 'Roadtrip'. No matter, no matter. I hope we can find you one day. Thanks Roger!

The very talented Kal Lavelle runs this evening of loveliness every (yup, you guessed it) Sunday. Kal took the stage first, fresh from touring with Ed Sheeran and promoting her new EP 'Shivers'. If you've never heard her tunes before, drop everything and listen now. This lady's voice and lyrics are pretty special. Here's a pic we captured of Kal while we were humming along in the audience:

Halfway though her set, Kal invited Rach, Fi and I (Amy) up on stage to sing some Ahhhhs to 'Gypsy Blood'. Quite by surprise, we discovered today that Jon Barker had filmed the moment. Can't wait to see it.

After nomming some mezze, we took to the candlelit stage and played our set with a couple of brand newies 'Better' and 'Stop Hurting'. The latter is actually an oldie that we rarely play. We've stripped it right back to simple acoustic guitar with big, achey three-part harmonies. We'll be sure to bring these little friends out to play again next time. By the way, thanks to everyone who instagrammed, snapped a pic or a filmed a vid last night. As I was discussing with Jon today, the effort that goes into sharing your art and point-of-view means a lot. A performance is such a fleeting thing, so capturing these moments keep them lingering a little longer. Here's a few we found on the interwebs:

A pic by @Beeny87. Check out our Guinness pints and mezze in shot. Heart.

A pic by @jedijon. Jon also captured the main image for this post and a bunch of other lovely shots in a flickr set here. Heart.

Thanks for sharing guys.

Grace Banks followed us up with a solo acoustic set. It was our first chance to sample her tunes, and my my, what an incredibly beautiful vintage voice she has. Have a listen to the tunage.

And lets not to forget the wonderful Antonio Lulic who rolled through the door, a little late, camera crew in tow. He'd been filming a hat trick of gigs across London all day. "It was supposed to be four gigs actually" he mused, to which we said "yOu craZy". Hey ho, London's Summer weather always did have its own mind. Antonio is definitely another talented chap that if you haven't heard, you should listen to his stuff, like, now. But that recommendation comes with a warning to the dudes. Fellas, lock up your sheilas. Mr Lulic's vocals are pretty snazzy.

Ah. Sundays have never been so lovely.

We reached out to a bunch of our live music promoter contacts and before long, we were full of dates and knocking a few back. Here's the poster we made:

This poster is actually missing a couple of cool venues that popped up along the way, including an afternoon of live music at 93 Feet East where we played completely acoustic to a live crowd in the early summer sunshine. Ah, beautiful. It's also missing a recent fab night out at London's quirky Water Rats in Kings Cross where we played to a packed house and supported Pixie Carnation.

Here are a few pics we have collected along the way. Thanks to everyone who supported or listened during the mini tour. Fun times!

Ciao x