Things had been going swimmingly for D.C. band Novo since its formation in the beginning of 2018. The electro-soul pop group quickly meshed, composing a catalogue of original songs that garnered them appearances at Gypsy Sally’s and Pearl Street Warehouse, speedily building a local following. Then came the first major hiccup: their band name.
“We began to realize there were a lot of other Novos out there,” says Gena Photiadis, keyboardist and co-founder of the newly renamed Knovo, about why they changed their name. “It’s bands, companies, banks. We tried to release our single “Fake” under the name ‘Novo’ with an ‘N’ and it tagged the wrong stuff in Spotify.”
“It was a total disaster,” adds Nikhel Sus, guitarist for the group. “So we started over.”
Thankfully, an obvious edit came from friend Andy Valenti from the D.C. band Oh He Dead. “He was like, why don’t you just put a ‘k’ in front of it?” says Sus. Crisis averted. The band put its new name into effect earlier this month, in time for their show on Saturday at Tropicalia.
Graduates of George Mason University’s classical music and jazz programs, Photiadis and her husband, bassist and main songwriter TJ Turqman, initially worked as a duo until an argument led to the birth of Knovo.
“We were actually in the middle of a fight,” says Photiadis. “And I was like ‘Man! We just need to start something!’ And then Tula came to mind.”
They added Tula Pisano, a graduate of Virginia Tech’s jazz music program and a friend the couple already knew through gigging in D.C.’s music scene, to the line-up as their lead singer. Drummer Matt Tredwell, guitarist Sus, and, most recently, background vocalist Carly Harvey provided Photiadis and Turqman with the necessary musical muscle to flesh out Turqman’s compositions, with Pisano writing the lyrics.
“We spent most of 2018 writing as a 5-piece,” says Photiadis. “Our material, we take a lot of care in arranging and writing it, so it takes a long time.”
It also helps that the majority of the members already knew each other via various side projects and one-off gigs (Tredwell and Turqman first met while performing at a jazz brunch) before coming together as Knovo. “There’s a level of honesty when we practice,” adds Pisano. “TJ writes the majority of the music. He’ll bring the skeleton of the song and we’ll all vibe on it and groove on it but if something sounds weird somebody’s going to be like ‘I don’t like what you’re doing there’ and nobody’s feelings get hurt.”
That work has paid off as Knovo preps the release of their yet-to-be-titled 5-track debut EP in June at Pie Shop. The first single, “Fake,” released earlier this month, brings to mind sunny 70’s pop with Pisano’s vocal stylings landing somewhere between Karen Carpenter and The Cardigans’ Nina Persson.
Another song on the upcoming album, the pulsing disco jam “Dizzy Kong,” has a driving synth that sounds like Prince’s “Controversy” mixed with elements of The Style Council. A listener might mistake the intro of “TWU” as something from Genesis’ “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” era until the song breaks into a pulsing funk with Sus providing guitar licks à la Chic’s Nile Rodgers. And there are enough time signature changes in all of their songs to keep any Rush fan happy.
Knovo will be debuting their new material live at Tropicalia on Saturday. “[It’ll be a] little bit of indie. Little bit of dance. Little bit of groove,” says Photiadis of the upcoming show. If the response they’ve received from their past performances is any indication, Knovo’s recognition among audiences and fellow musicians should only continue to grow. “When we play shows, for whatever reason, musicians and music nerds really like us,” says Turqman. “So they’ll come up to us and be like ‘We have to do a show together!’”
Knovo plays Tropicalia on Feb. 1 with special guest Eastern Standard Time. 8 p.m. Tickets $10.
