| Associated acts | Kids of 88 |
|---|---|
| Website | thenakedandfamous.com |
| Members |
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| Past members |
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The Naked and Famous are a New Zealand indie electronic band from Auckland, formed in 2007. The band consists of Alisa Xayalith (vocals, keyboards), Thom Powers (vocals, guitars), Aaron Short (keyboards), David Beadle (bass) and Jesse Wood (drums).
The band have released two studio albums: Passive Me, Aggressive You (2010) and In Rolling Waves (2013). Since 2012, the band has been based in Los Angeles.
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History[edit]
2007–08: Early years[edit]
The Naked and Famous took their name from English musician Tricky‘s song “Tricky Kid”, which is ambivalent about the notion of celebrity.[7] In the song, Tricky quotes the line “everybody wants to be naked and famous”, from The Presidents of the United States of America‘s song “Naked and Famous“. The band formed in 2007 when Thom Powers and Alisa Xayalith were working on what formed two extended plays—This Machine and No Light—that they recorded with engineer Aaron Short, a fellow student at Auckland’s MAINZ music college.[8] The EPs were subsequently released on local independent label Round Trip Mars. Powers and Xayalith began performing live with Ben Knapp and Jordan Clark on bass and drums respectively, while Aaron Short became a performing member of the group. Knapp and Clark left the group in 2009 and were subsequently replaced with Jesse Wood and David Beadle.
2009–11: Passive Me, Aggressive You[edit]
After recording “All of This”, the group then set about recording the single “Young Blood” and their debut album, recording mostly at home and at Auckland studio The Lab. “Young Blood” debuted on the New Zealand chart at number one on 14 June 2010—the first New Zealand artist in three years to do so.[9] The Naked and Famous released their debut studio album, Passive Me, Aggressive You, on 6 September 2010 on their own label,[10] Somewhat Damaged.[11] The album was produced by Thom Powers and Aaron Short, and mixed by Billy Bush.
On 6 December 2010, the BBC announced that The Naked and Famous had been nominated for BBC’s Sound of 2011 poll.[12]
In 2011, the band garnered six nominations at the New Zealand Music Awards for Album of the Year, Single of the Year, Best Group, Breakthrough Artist of the Year, Best Alternative Album and the People’s Choice Award. They were also nominated for the NZ On Air Best Music Video and won the MAINZ Best Engineer Award and the MAINZ Best Producer Award.[13]
2012–13: In Rolling Waves[edit]
The band settled in Los Angeles in mid-2012 after completing touring for Passive Me, Aggressive You. They had performed over 200 shows in 24 countries between 2010 and 2012. Sharing a home over the back of Laurel Canyon, they began work on writing and demoing their second album. Their intention was to record an album that could be played live, not relying on backing tracks—something the group had always eschewed.
On 28 February 2013, the band announced One Temporary Escape, a concert film recorded at The Warfield in San Francisco in 2012. It was released for free download on 18 March 2013.[14]
Entering Los Angeles’ Sunset Sound studio in March 2013 with engineer Billy Bush (who had mixed the previous album), they began the process of recording In Rolling Waves. The album sessions were completed in a month and then in June 2013, The Naked and Famous headed for London where Alan Moulder spent a month mixing the album at his Willesden studio, Assault and Battery. The album was mastered at Sterling Sound in New York by Joe LaPorta, who had also mastered Passive Me, Aggressive You, and was produced by Thom Powers with Aaron Short. Justin Meldal-Johnsen co-produced two tracks with Thom Powers.
On 23 July 2013, the band revealed their new single “Hearts Like Ours” along with the release date for their second studio album In Rolling Waves, on 16 September 2013 in the UK.[15]
2014–present: Simple Forms [edit]
On 20 November 2014, the band announced that they are working on a third album.[16] The band began tracking for the album in September 2015.[17]
On 3 July 2016, the band announced their new single “Higher” would be released on 7 July, and teased fans with stills from the lyric video of the track. Upon single’s release, the band revealed that their new album, titled Simple Forms is set to be released on 14 October 2016 via their label Somewhat Damaged in conjunction with Kobalt Label Services.[3]
