Local Band "Nude Shoes" Expected to Thrive
May 2020
Kelly Brennan
A local New Jersey band named Nude Shoes is on its way to the top; a band who classifies themselves as a blend of emo and pop punk lent me their guitarist Billy Butka to answer some questions about the band. Made up of Andy Katz who plays guitar and sings lead vocals, Chris Steele who contributes to the vocals, Sean Lavery who plays bass, Tyler Patchell who handles the drums, rounded out by the guitarists Giulio Bozzone and Billy Butka. There’s a total of six members contributing to the sound they’ve created for themselves. Although members live in three different states, the band likes to say that they’re based in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
Butka told me that “this [band] started as a side project for Andy as a way to cope with his health issues in 2018. He had met with [me] that summer at a party at [our] producer’s house, [...] and [we] had relinked in early 2019. [I] recruited a bunch of [my] close friends (Chris, Sean and Giulio) to fill the slots, while Andy found Tyler from being in the scene and supporting Tyler’s other band Midfield.” Butka compared the band to an onion with layers; when asked about what it’s like to have six members, he said “the more the merrier! It’s a lot to put on a stage. Especially for smaller DIY venues, but we definitely need it for our songs. Onions have layers. [...] Nude Shoes songs have layers and layers of guitar. But it’s awesome. We’re all good friends so it just adds to the chemistry of the band.”
Although the name of the band, Nude Shoes, doesn’t necessarily have a story behind it, it was clear to me through my interview that this band is a close knit group who really cares about each other. Butka shared with me that on stage their dynamic is fun, energetic, and a genuine performance. He said, “we’re still pretty new as a band, and we’re continuously playing with our lineup, and stage presence to put on a better show.” Off stage he said that their dynamic is all fun and upbeat and basically a bunch of friends who just like to have fun and goof around.
Butka shared the band's opinions on their genre of pop punk by saying that a lot of the members grew up on bands like Blink-182 and New Found Glory, which makes the genre so personal to them. He told me that they all love the genre, saying that it has a lot of energy and it’s fun to play. Within their songs, Butka commented on some of the topics that they like to cover, sharing, “we cover all kinds of topics from losing a loved one and learning to cope with loss, people taking the life they have for granted, and unhealthy coping mechanisms and mindsets.” He joked saying, “we’re fun people I swear! A lot of our lyrical material tends to be on the darker side, which is a cool contrast to the fun, upbeat music.”
Butka said that the band’s sound is “nostalgic of earlier pop punk and emo, but with some modern elements.” He shared the writing process of the band saying, “We kind of all write remotely so we’ll send each other ideas over text and once we have something solid we’ll demo it out at Bear Away Studios [in Old Bridge, New Jersey]. I’m sure other bands experience this as well, but some of the writing will take place during the recording process which is kind of fun and organic.”
Some of the band’s favorite venues to play at include Greenbrier in New Jersey, Garden Grove Brewing in Virginia, and Kung Fu Necktie in Pennsylvania. I asked what some of the most memorable bands to play with were and Butka shared that there’s so many talented people in Jersey in his opinion. He shared a few that the band enjoyed playing with, including FRND CRCL, A Boy Named John, Feeney, and Midfield, saying that they’re all great to play with. “The songs are tight, and the quality of the performances are some we strive to replicate,” he said, adding that he would love to play with them again.
Their most recent song actually premiered this month on May 6th: it’s a cover of The Wonder Years’ song “You in January.” Before this cover premiered and captured the attention of fans, they released a song in early 2020 called “Billy’s Here, Love, I’ve Got to Go,” which has an astonishing music video to accompany it. The song has an upbeat tune to it, fast paced and exciting, with lyrics that sound angry and passionate to go with it. The music video matches the tone of the song perfectly; Butka shared that ““Billy’s Here” had so much energy and we needed to capture that in a video. There wasn’t really a story. [I] had access to a really cool location. This house was trapped in the 1960s and 70s and we had everyone dress as close to the era they could. We’re talking shag carpets, wall paper, furniture, etc. It was crazy. We basically just told everyone to go nuts.” He shouted out Eric DiCarlo of Square Up Studios who produced the music video saying that he “killed it.”
During the lock-down that we’re all stuck in, Nude Shoes has been keeping busy. They have been playing Instagram Live sessions, doing live interviews, and right now writing on their own time while at home. They’re making an effort to support other artists as well, which Butka added to saying, “gotta try and keep the spirit of the scene alive!” He said that the band “[wants to] hit the studio up a bunch and release a few records. We have a nice timeline planned out for releases that should hold us off for the rest of the year,” which he said fans should stay tuned for. He added to this by saying that the band is “sitting on so much material right now. The next few releases we put out are most likely gonna resemble more of some mid 2000s emo which we are all super excited about. There’s gonna be some pop punk in there but we’re changing it up a tad.”
Overall, Nude Shoes has been hard at work for the two years they’ve been assembled. The band has a sound that stands out; it’s a small local band that I expect to blow up within the next couple of years and really hit it off in the scene. They already have a following of 1,600 monthly listeners on Spotify, and with more gigs that they play and more people they connect with, there’s no doubt in my mind that Nude Shoes will be seen a lot more going forward. Make sure to keep an eye out on Spotify and Instagram for new releases and shows in 2020.
Photo One and Three courtesy of Kris Khunachak of https://www.kriskhunachak.com/
Photo Two courtesy of Alex Atamian of https://alexatamianphoto.com/
Graphic courtesy of Kelly Brennan
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