Nudey: The Three-Man, Seven-Man Band
“The three of us met in the depths of the Hudson River and were brought together by the magic powers of the princess wizard and friendship,” is what I was told when I sat down with Nudey’s Wyatt Nash ahead of this year’s Battle of the Bands. Nudey, is a three-man band made up of “a little bit of everything”: a one-stop shop for electronic indie rock on Columbia’s campus. The members are Wyatt Nash and Finn Darby, who both sing as well as share guitar and bass, and drummer Reilly Boyd. Darby and Nash dabble in anything they can get their hands on, trying to incorporate modular synths and deep tones into their stage presence.
The trio, all knowing each other from back home in Los Angeles, came to New York wanting to make something new. Although they are only three, their end goal is to sound like a seven-piece band when performing live. The “live” aspect is the most important to note here. No tracks in the background, only live playing. Live synth, live guitar, live bass, live drums, live everything. You get the gist… it’s live. Everything the band makes is completely original, using the tried and true “jam it out” method to start up most of their creative prowess, and working through everything as a band.
When asked about their influence, Nash noted seeing an LCD Soundsystem performance this past summer with Darby, and becoming entranced with their performance style, saying it was the “best performance I have ever seen live.” Centering drums over everything else and the intrinsic need to have every member of the audience dance, LCD is something I would understand wanting to emulate. Nudey members want to take it a few steps further though, with the bold claim that one day, while listening to their set and dancing along, if you close your eyes, you would think you have seven people up on that stage dancing along with you.
Having seen their set once before, I had to ask what was up with the outfits. On a cool October day in the fall, I caught them perform at a Sig Ep x CU Records fundraising event in short-shorts, pennies, and every piece of neon sweat paraphernalia from the 80s that a group of college guys could get their hands on. So I had to ask, where did that come from? Here’s how it went down: Nash and Boyd ran track in high school, and after writing their song “Cross Country,” it was kind of like what the hell, sure, why not, let’s dress up to reminisce about our days on track. Deciding to be a bit more formal, they performed in matching suits recently—the trio gets excited dreaming up what they could wear next.
So with that in mind, come see Nudey play live this Thursday, as Nash included: “Voltron needs five, but Nudey only needs three. Come see us at the Battle of the Bands.”
Make sure to check out their Instagram @nudeynyc and YouTube @nudeynyc for music videos, performance announcements, and all things Nudey.