The Nova Twins: “If people want rock to survive they need to diversify.”

The Nova Twins (Love and South) have recently gained the spotlight as a POC alternative rock duo. Not only is their music perfectly dance-punk and beautifully hardcore, but they are also striving to bring awareness to the POC rock community considering white males have dominated rock for years. 

“There’s a lack of representation and understanding of POC alternative artists, particularly in the UK,” Love explained to NME. “People are happy for black people to be in R&B and hip-hop because they feel like it’s safe and that’s the done thing. These are genres that black people have pioneered, but there’s a lack of education about how rock was also pioneered and helped to move forward by artists like Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The genre was carried by a lot of white men, but a lot of the POC artists got lost along the way.

“People don’t think we belong here. We get loads of stereotypes. People think that we’re R&B or dancers. We just want to create an eye-opening experience for the gatekeepers to understand that this isn’t going anywhere and see what’s really going on out there. In pop music, the headliners at big festivals reflect what’s happening today. That doesn’t happen in rock music. If people want rock music and the live industry to survive then they need to diversify.”

Every cent they earn from their upcoming EP “Voices For the Unheard” will go straight to improving how black history is taught throughout the UK. Both South and Love find it extremely important to provide proper education to everyone, no matter their age. The teaching system is far too messed up to ignoring these problems much longer. 

“There’s so much that we don’t know,” said South. “There are so many things that we were fed in school that were just pointless and not relevant to us as a culture. It’s the same all across the world. You start with the Roots documentary, then you learn about Martin Luther King, then you that basketball film Coach Carter. Everyone else has The Suffragettes, King Henry VIII, everything.”

“This goes across the board – you can be 10-years-old or 50-years-old and still learn from The Black Curriculum. It’s never too late to learn.”

The duo has unfortunately gone through uncomfortable situations, being the only black people at their schools. As kids, Love remembered thinking that all black people came from slaves and white people freed them. 

“Beyond their struggle, you don’t really get to see how black people fit in this society or how they’ve contributed. We’re still learning ourselves and there’s still so much history to be unpicked, but we just thought it would be great to invest in a platform that’s trying to re-educate people.”

To preorder their new EP, click here.