Resh, Sofia, Sylvia and Brian from Napoleon Ice Cream stopped by for a songwriting chat and to play some acoustic versions of their songs live in the studio. Describing themselves as "Aussie Asian Nerds who should be home studying but snuck away to make rock music instead", Napoleon Ice Cream craft funky rock songs with a 70s/80s vibe. Resh is the chief songwriter in the band but all four of them are part of the writing process. Sofia for example expresses her songwriting feelings through the instrumental parts she creates in the band's songs. We discussed how the different training and musical experience each of them have influences the songs they write. Sylvia was trained classically, Resh learnt traditional South Indian music whilst Sofia and Brian learnt by strumming guitars with friends.
Resh describes the songwriting process as both an expression of herself and a conversation with the audience. She spoke about trying to decide how much of her vulnerability to express in songs and how much to hold back. She has been pleasantly surprised by how audience members sometimes interpret her songs in a way she'd never thought of which leads to her also thinking about the songs in a different way.
It is also clear that all of the band are conversing and vibing with each other when they play together.
Resh spoke about being delirious, tired and hungry as a key ingredient in a songwriting session with Sofia which produced the song "Unexpectedly" a song about escaping a place to get to somewhere better. The band played an acoustic version of the song live in the studio which they had reworked from the funky 80s version they usually play with drums and electric guitars. They also played acoustic versions of two other songs live - Perfect Happy and Teddy Bear which you can hear after the closing credits of the episode.
It was great to chat with these talented, motivated songwriters and musicians!
To find out more about Napoleon Ice Cream: https://linktr.ee/napoleon_ice_cream?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=4e7cf3de-0ae9-4c7e-baf8-f4cf63f0ab37