Frontwoman of ‘Courtnay and the Unholy Reverie’, Courtnay Low grew up surrounded by heavy music and the Taranaki hardcore scene. Now fronting a band steeped in dark country, southern gothic, and the delta blues, it’s clear after talking to her for just a few minutes that the genre has never mattered as much as the conviction.
“I can’t remember what movie I was watching, but I remember I was probably like 5 or 6. There was a scene with a chain gang, and they were singing, and I was like ‘what is that!’. As a kid, and growing up, I was searching for that sound without realising it was the delta blues, until I was in my late teens. Even though I was in metal bands and doing all sorts of other stuff, there didn’t seem to be much of a shared interest in my circle for that kind of music, but I always cherished it so much.”
With her teenage years steeped in the hardcore and metal scene, many of these values are prevalent within then band’s sound today. “It just comes down to intensity, and conviction.” The ideals of energy, chaos, and intensity, as prevalent in an Unholy Reverie set as they are in many hardcore shows. The sense of community was strong within the Taranaki scene, and despite the turbulence of the early 2020s, has come back full force within the local scene. “I think this is one of those rare places where everyone wants to do really well, and we kind of help each other where we can. Jump on each other’s bills, or run the door for a different band, or promote other people’s gigs. The original scene definitely shaped that, and I think that’s one of those legacy things that will continue to carry on through whoever’s got the torch now, you know?”
It wasn’t always the intention for this lineup to become the band we see today. Originally starting off with Courtnay and session musicians, it became clear that there was a chemistry there, with the lineup of Keith Parker, Riley Smith, and James Mora quickly becoming instrumental in developing the sound we hear on the album. “I’ve always written music, I just never took it seriously. I started it as a hobby, and then I was like, fuck it, I actually want to record some music. I pulled out Mercy, and I was like yeah, that’s fucking cool, let’s run with that, so I asked some musicians and see if they want to jump on as session musicians, hence the name. It became very apparent once we started recording and writing together that it wasn’t a ‘Courtnay and the blah blah’ kind of a band. Maybe at some point, we need to address that name.”
The first album Mercy was released back in 2024, covering both personal experiences as well as characters and scenarios. The opening track, Vulture Vulture, was based around Dutch Van Der Linde, from the video game Red Dead Redemption 2. “I was like ‘this guy’s an asshole, I want to write a song about him.” Other tracks are rooted more deeply in personal experiences or observations, such as Lost at Sea, originally written about a breakup, but attributed by listeners to other scenarios. “The song has reach, and it’s touching people that need to hear it, and they’re able to apply their own experiences to it. If music’s not for connection, then what the fuck is it for?”
While the journey through the recording process may have brought the current lineup together, it’s the live shows that truly matter more than a perfect record. When someone walks in to a Courtnay and the Unholy Reverie show, “I want them to feel unpredictability. I want them to be like, what’s going to happen? The first song come in as hot as we possibly can, fucking try and convert as many people in the room into loosening up and having a good time. I think even myself, when I go and watch bands, I feel very self-conscious of the fact that I’m dancing. I just want people to fucking forget that feeling and cut loose. We want people to come in, feel welcome and safe, but also like ‘what the fuck is going to happen’ kind of vibes. Energy. That’s what we want … It’s the constant movements, there’s more than one thing to look at, and the levels are all different and there’s mistakes, and there’s all sorts of shit, and it’s the shit that makes a live show a live show. Not something engineered and over produced, not cookie cutter. We always talk about when we get the audio back from live recorded gigs, and we can’t really use most of it, but that doesn’t matter because the energy was there. I’d happily sacrifice precision for vibe.”
The blues is a genre all about connection and shared experience, but one of Courtnay’s favourite parts of a live show may not be what you’d expect. “I love a drunken heckler. Some of the coolest stuff actually happens in between the songs. It’s awesome seeing people who listen to your music, and they start singing your song back to you, that’s crazy! But like, give me a yap with someone in the crowd! We’re trying to make points for people to be able to be like, whatever. Like the dude at the Auckland show with the fucking shitty moustache that tried to give us shit, and I was like ‘you’re not giving me shit with a mo like that, bro.’ It’s all very lighthearted and personal, but a little bit like, hey, fuck you.”
Having just come off a recent tour with local legends Bleeders, a swampy blues rock band may have seemed like an interesting choice, but “it was instant vibes.” Offering to add some heavier tracks to the set list was dismissed by Bleeders frontman Angelo Munro, who emphasised that putting on a great show was more important than a perfect pairing of genres. “It’s kind of like the first time that we’ve been not feeling a little bit of impostor syndrome. Taking that billing ahead of the Boonies [The Boondocks] for example, they’re like, fucking up here, and we’re still kind of chilling down here, but we’re just like, nah, this makes sense. This feels good, we’re welcomed here”.
The band are currently preparing to release their upcoming album, one which feels like it may be the next major chapter for the band. While the first album may have felt like a dirty, swampy, authentically blues experience, this next release will be something new and different, if not somewhat a return to Courtnay’s heavier roots.
“The heavier stuff is the stuff that we’ve been holding back a little bit. Road testing it, I guess, just to see if it’s going to be received. The album itself is a tricky one, becuase we were initially going to do two EPs, over the space of the year, but then we got signed to AAA Records, and they do only album releases, so we’re like, ‘ah shit, let’s smash the two EPs together and then just chuck three more songs we’ve been sitting on for ages on to that as well.’ Musically, it’ll flow and it’ll be find, but I think there might be a little different feel throughout the whole album, another little side-journey. But really excited to get some of the heavier stuff out there on the album… there’s bits and pieces of everything, but I think we rein it in with the blues thing. We’re looking forward to how it’s received, that’s for sure.”
A taste of the upcoming album, The Devil is in the Details, is scheduled for release on Friday, 10th July, ahead of the upcoming North Island tour this August.
