They say they are astral travelers, but these rockers from Olympia, WA, cite influences rooted deep in Hawkwind, Amon Duul II, Velvet Underground, and the MC5, and serve up their singular vision of rhythm and heat through a driving brand of psychedelic rock'n'roll.
Formed in 2004 and consisting of Dave Harvey (Tight Bros From Way Back When) on guitar, vocals, harmonica and occasional flute and sitar, Todd Berndt on guitar and synthesizer, Quitty (Tight Bro's From Way Back When) on bass and vocals, and Eryn Ross (Growing) on drums, the group has shown an intense dedication to their craft on a 12" vinyl outing, a couple of self-released cd's and some West Coast and national touring. Whether listening to these recordings or experiencing it live, listeners hear vocals soar, scream, and filter out into broken harmonies that dissipate into shakers and guitar leads, all washed over a very solid, driving back beat of drums, nicely demonstrating the interplay between the song and the sonics that Nudity is working with. Nudity's songs continually showcase the group's prowess at stretching out into psychic group-interplay territory, with full-fledged sonic freakouts, conga and tambourine-infused breakdowns, and an occasional set featuring sitar and a guest flautist that build piece by piece from simple drones to relentless all-out thundering grooves. The musicians plainly possess a sense of musical responsiveness to each other not often found outside of jazz, but always presented with their home-grown far-out, galactic raw power.
Their sole vinyl offering to date, already out of print (tho a cd is still available), is a 12" entitled "The Nightfeeders." Released in 2008 on Portland's Discourage Records with lush screenprinted cover art, the platter features a 21 minute take on the title track, and an equal length remix and re-envisioning by San Francisco sonic maestro Tim Green. In a review on his Head Heritage website, Julian Cope proclaims "...the current Richter Scale stature of this ensemble is ‘Overfloweth’. And while side one clocks in at twenty-one minutes of early (TNT-period) DC as played by Amon Düül 2, side two sports a re-mix/re-model by Fucking Champs hero Tim Green, thereby stuffing even more sonic overload into the grooves. Once Nudity get their first full album up-and-running, I know all Hell will break loose cause they’ze already majorly there with this release." Also check out a review from the Portland Mercury elsewhere on this page.
You can find Nudity's cd's at www.killrockstars.com, and www.krecs.com.
quittie in iceland whoa! yeah we will have a busy fall it seems, many shows, some in sunny italy... our album is almost done with mixing. lets see what the final output will sound like. by the way i missed to tell you that this one song and your e-bow solo had so much influence on me that one of the first things i did, when returning to germany, was buying myself an e-bow, even if pretty stupid becaus i ordered it from the states and could have already bought it when i was there haha... well well haha so... best wishes for now, rock on... i hope that your next record will come out on vinyl as well and soon :-).
hey dude, thanks! yes, it is matt vanek of olympia fame in the band too. totally a coincidence we hooked up, he answered a craigslist ad for a bass player here in ABQ, turned out he is working here. pretty cool. you guys should come through again, this time we could get a show together!!
hi dave, glad you liked it! yes all is well thanks. we just finished to record the samsara album and mix it now. i think i will send you one later... cheers and good luck then for the tour...
Went to Old School tonight but I was a day late! Judd took my money anyhow. Saw American Cheeseburger and Iron Lung instead of Dave Harvey's Nudity! Damn! It was not psychedelic!
