On paper, nascent Victorian outfit Numbnuts might feel like the definition of a supergroup. However, its three members vehemently deny such categorisation, preferring instead to be referred to as a fierce unit.
Making their official debut on Friday, the origins of Numbnuts can be traced back to last year, when The Pretty Littles decided to call it quits after a decade together. However, songwriter Jack Parsons wasn’t quite ready to stop making music altogether, and instead recruited some close musical friends to round out this new project.
Working with drummer Miles Wilson (Bad//Dreems) and Brett Middleton (Majak Door, Polarise), Numbnuts arrived fully formed, and immediately began hitting the stage alongside the likes of The Slingers or Wilson’s own Bad//Dreems.
Miles Wilson, Jack Parsons, and Brett Middleton of Numbnuts. (Photo: Supplied)
The result of this musical collaboration was a sound that is equal parts representative of the members’ respective outfits, in addition to noted influences from iconic groups such as The Moffs and Pavement. This sound soon gave way to formal recordings, with the nascent band heading to Geelong’s Pivot City Studios to record three tracks in one day with Press Club’s Greg Reitwyk.
Armed with tracks such as “Starta Motor”, “Brain Like a Sharp Knife”, and “Feliz Navidad!”, it’s the latter which feels most representative of the band we find ourselves in the presence of today. Speaking to a certain stage in someone’s life – when responsibilities are few and plans to travel are premium – “Feliz Navidad!” was directly reflective of Parsons’ own life, having been “toiling the concrete fields of an inner-city 24-hour valet car park” while saving money for a trip to South America.
“Been a pleasure writing and recording again with a coupla legends,” Parsons says of Numbnuts. “Been fun digging back through all the bits and pieces from the lockdowns and whipping ‘em into shape.”
Indeed, the arrival of Numbnuts is a pleasurable one, with their loose approach to music harnessing an inimitable ability to strike a chord with the hearts and minds of their prospective fanbase. Armed with the tongue-in-cheek approach of The Pretty Littles, and backed by the fierce musicianship of Wilson and Middleton’s rhythm section, Numbnuts have made their arrival onto the Aussie music scene one to remember, with plenty of fuel in the tank for whatever the future may hold.
Numbnuts’ “Feliz Navidad!” is out now.
