South Summit on new album Run It Back, upcoming Aussie tour, filming on Bluff Knoll and tough music scene

Rising Perth band South Summit say they are entering the “biggest time” of their lives.

As they prepare to play their largest Australian headline shows to date next month, the five-piece consisting of brothers Isaiah (Zaya) and Nehemiah (Nemo) Reuben, Josh Trindall, Fynn Samorali and Nathan Osborne are still buzzing following the release of their sophomore album Run It Back last Friday.

They hope this could be the break that sees them make music a full time career, having previously worked other part-time jobs to support themselves.

“This album definitely is like a statement on what South Summit wants to bring to the scene. It’s definitely a different sound that we’re bringing, and every song we feel like there’s a song for everyone in,” lead singer Zaya told PerthNow during an interview at their local, the Rosemount Hotel, to unveil the new album that took two years to write.

The band teamed up with producer Dave Parkins and also wrote with Marlon Gerbes (Six60), pushing their sound into new territory.

Written in the wake of their debut 2024 album The Bliss (which landed at number two on the ARIA Aus Charts), Run It Back is bold and blends funk, hip hop, and R&B influences while sticking to their roots of reggae and psychedelia.

“We’re not playing it safe with this album. We wanted to just chuck everything in, and every song’s different too, we’re risking a lot, but I think the payoff is having fun while we’re writing it,” Zaya said.

The band will kick off their biggest tour around Australia in Sydney on July 10 before stopping in Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne with a final show at Metropolis in Fremantle on July 25.

“We are in the biggest time of our lives at the moment,” Zaya said.

“We’re playing some pretty huge rooms over east. It’s crazy to even think about . . . we started touring, what, three years ago, to free entry rooms,” drummer Nathan added.

“We’ve been cooking up something sick with our set lists and all these new songs, so we’re keen to fill out these rooms and show people our kind of new sound we’re doing.”

South Summit broke into the Aussie music scene in 2021 after forming the year before.

Since then, they have enjoyed a steady rise, which has involved a 15-date UK/European run supporting The Terrys, supporting Tash Sultana, hitting the road nationally with The Dreggs, performed at Triple J’s 50th anniversary celebrations, and performing at major festivals, including Spilt Milk, alongside Kendrick Lamar, Doechii and Dominic Fike.

The band said they are continuing to climb the mountain having last month quite literally put the summit in South Summit.

The group went on a road trip to the Great Southern to film the music video for their song Heartless atop Bluff Knoll, the highest peak of the Stirling Range.

“We’re like 10 minutes away, driving there, it’s like two in the morning, and we’re searching up, what is this actually like? We’ve got no hiking gear whatsoever nor experience, and it turned out to be pretty tough on the way out,” lead guitarist Fynn said.

Zaya said the “two-hour hike was cold as s...”, but despite their struggles, they made it up in time for sunrise and made their dream to shoot a clip on top of a mountain come true.

Despite their success, the group said being in the music industry was not easy and they still worked different jobs outside of the band.

“To be honest, it’s actually really hard to be a musician and earn in the current climate, like obviously we’re super stoked with what we’re doing, done, sort of touring-wise, like we’re super fortunate, but it is pretty tricky to sort of earn a living,” Nathan said.

To help pay the bills, each member works in a “flexible job that lets you go away for a random month here or there”.

“We only just started actually breaking even or profiting, really. Yeah, there’s a massive barrier to making money while touring, like it just costs too much,” Fynn said.

“That’s the music scene I guess.”

Coming back to the Rosemount was a nostalgic moment for South Summit after they sold out their first ever show at the venue on March 6, 2021.

“We rehearse for every tour here, it’s always this spot if we ever want to catch up, we always just head here for a few drinks,” Nathan said.

While many music fans compare the band to heavyweights Ocean Alley — which they admit is cool — South Summit are carving their own path and want to see how far they can go.