Though Georgia Gets By is named after a groggy dragon having a terrible day, Georgia Nott sounds nothing like one. In fact, you’ll likely find her voice somewhat familiar given her history as half of the internationally renowned Nelson family duo Broods. Currently based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Nott is warming up to the release of her second GGB EP by releasing one great single after the other. NZ On Air Music featured the introspective Some Kind Of Angel on their NewTracks compilation in August.

What is your given name, what are your pronouns, where are you from, and what instruments do you play?

Georgia Nott. She/her. I’m from Nelson. I play guitar, bass, piano, sing, and I mess around with whatever other instruments I can get my hands on.

Was any high school or other music training especially important to you?

I played a lot in high school. I was in a couple of bands and took pretty much any opportunity to sing, whether it was in a choir or church or school events. My parents were extremely encouraging and genuinely believed that I should be singing any chance I had. They didn’t let me slack off, that’s for sure, haha.

Any other projects that we might we know you from?

My brother and I have a band called Broods. That’s how I came into the music industry as a 19-year-old. We have been playing music together our whole lives, but professionally for about a decade.

What’s the background story to Georgia Gets By?

During the pandemic I was living with my partner at the time, who is a producer. He and I spent all day everyday making music, sometimes separately, but a lot of the time together. We ended up making hundreds of songs and little ideas and, out of that, emerged the first EP, ‘Fish Bird Baby Boy’. These days I work a lot with a friend of mine, John Velasquez in LA. I love having a close collaborator to build a world with.

How has your writing evolved from your beginnings in songwriting to now?

I think it’s evolved as much as I have as a person and listener of music. When I first started writing as a kid, I mostly wrote singer-songwriter type stuff on the guitar. When I was about 16 I got a keyboard and went through my ‘dramatic ballad’ phase! Once I left high school, my brother and I started making more electronic music, and that’s how Broods was born. These days I’ve gone back to the beginning and write almost exclusively on guitar.

What made you decide on Georgia Gets By as your artist name?

There’s this children’s book called ‘Dragon Gets By’, all about a dragon that wakes up one day and does everything backwards and muddled up. I guess it got to me because I cried reading it and named a whole project after it…

Aside from this release, what’s been the big highlight to date?

Honestly, I don’t know if anything will ever beat the excitement of the beginning. My brother Caleb and I squealing and jumping around in our shitty, mouldy house, because people were listening to our first song we put out on Soundcloud.

I also remember, very vividly, us flying to LA together, him 21 and me 19. We flew premium economy, which blew our tiny minds.

It may sound like a benign detail, but I remember Caleb’s face as a flight attendant offered him a glass of champagne. He made a classic excited face like he did when he was a kid. We both had absolutely no idea how crazy our lives were about to get. I’m so eternally grateful that we got to do all that together as siblings.

What makes Some Kind Of Angel stand out for you as a single?

I think the fact that it’s almost a happy song, haha. It reminds me of swinging furiously high on a swing or something. How it feels to think you might get hurt if you’re not careful, but you’re loving it too much to stop!

What is the story behind Some Kind Of Angel?

It’s about falling in love with someone and being scared that you might not be able to handle it. Kinda like being high on the up swing and seeing how easy it would be to get messed up or be the one to mess it up. Things are so beautiful, but you can’t but ache in the knowing that nothing lasts forever.

What’s your favourite moment, musical or lyrical, of the track?

I love when the bridge hits, especially when we play it live as a band. I love how noisy it gets. Everything else gets drowned out in that moment.

Who did you write the song with and where?

I wrote this song in my room when I was living in Lyall Bay. I had a good feeling about it, but I can never tell if it’s just me, you know. I showed it to my friends Matt and Madde in the studio one day though, and they could hear what I was hearing too. It always satisfying to have your ideas find their way into the real world.

What would you like listeners to take away from this song?

I don’t know. Whatever they want/feel? I think just some sort of emotional release is what I hope people get from my music in general. I’m not trying lead anybody into anything or teach people. I’m just trying to express myself and hopefully give people a place to do that too.

How do you generally work out which song would make a good single?

I will usually gauge it on how other people respond. I may be really attached to a song, but I lose context when I’m the one writing and playing it and projecting my feelings and experience onto it. When it comes to sharing music, once it’s out, it’s not mine any more. I have to care about how other people feel when they listen.

Who else is in your team? 

I’m managed by Slush Management and signed to Luminelle Records. I really love my team. I’ve had some bizarre experiences in the music industry, especially on the business side. But, I feel like where I’m at now, surrounded by the team I have, I can really be myself and I think my work becomes more genuine because of this. It takes a village, and a lot of trust. I’m really grateful to have that reciprocity these days.

Are there any other musical endeavours you’re working on that we should keep an eye out for?

I’m mostly focusing on GGB right now. I hope to get involved in more collaborative projects soon, though, whatever that may look like. I think it helps to have some diversity in my creative practice. It keeps me from losing perspective.

Can you please name three other local tunes that would fit well on a playlist alongside your song. 

• Vera Ellen: Feelings I Can’t Name
• Womb: Oceans
• Regarding Ruby: Moth Man

Are there any musical blogs, Youtube channels or podcasts you’re super into?

It has nothing to do with music, but I love watching Liziqi. She has a YouTube channel where she just works on the farm and makes delicious looking food. She also builds furniture and sews and basically lives like a real life Disney leading lady. It’s kind of like lifestyle porn or something…

Who did you make the Some Kind Of Angel video with?

I worked with Silken Weinberg and Clayton McCracken on the visuals. Silken has directed and shot pretty much everything to do with this project, and Clayton did the edit and built all the analogue animations.