DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE: South Summit - 'Climbing The Summit'

Perth five-piece South Summit have been experiencing a steady upward trajectory with their blend of rock and more indie sounds, coming together for a culturally rich and diverse combination of influences.

With three successful EPs under their name – 2021’s Merlin’s and this year’s Creatures and Tales Of The Yeti – why not put out a documentary and track South Summit’s success so far?

Today, The Music premieres their new documentary, Climbing The Summit, an exploration of the “crazy journey” the band has experienced so far. Directed by Elliott Brown and produced by Vincent Trease, Climbing The Summit is an authentic examination of a band’s hard work and rewards.

South Summit’s Nathan Osbourne said in a statement, “This documentary gives us an opportunity to tell our stories, share our messages, and showcase what we do behind the scenes on this crazy journey. We feel like this documentary lets people understand our journey with music and what we want to be known for.

“We represent proud cultures throughout the band, but this is not the reason why we are here today. We are here for the love of music. The process was made super cruisy for us by the two guys who made it all happen. Big shoutout to Vince and Elliott for having the vision for the doco and all their hard work to make it happen.”

Below, you can watch Climbing The Summit and check out our Q&A with South Summit.

What are you looking forward to getting up to in the next chapter? What are your ambitions for this band moving forward?

There’s so much to look forward to in this industry. We are just taking it all in and making the most of it. We are busy at work on new tunes, so there’s a lot to come from us soon. Ambitions moving forward is to keep working hard, more touring, more music, and to keep having fun. That’s the only way we know how to do it!

2023 has been an absolutely massive year for you blokes, releasing two EPs – Creatures in January and Tales Of The Yeti in August – with a stack of shows in between. What have been the biggest highlights for you all over the past nine months?

The reception, especially from Tales Of The Yeti, has been really positive; we’ve been getting really good feedback from all around, so that’s great to see. We’ve also loved how the crowds have been learning all the new lyrics to these new tracks. It’s so nice to see people enjoying and singing along to the music, especially when the songs have just been released, and we’re even more keen to see that in action this November!

Still to come this year is your massive Running From The Yeti tour, spanning all across November with shows in Australia and New Zealand. What are you most looking forward to getting up to on this run?

We are so looking forward to this summer run of shows! This tour is our biggest to date, and the tickets are already selling quick, so mainly looking forward to get round and play for the people! We’ve always had a soft spot for Melbourne, though; they always turn up in the masses and are rowdy as, keen for another huge one in Melbs. Also, these NZ dates are our first overseas shows ever. So we’re pretty bloody keen to jump over the ditch, too!

When you all sat down to watch this doco for the first time, seeing the past few years of your lives unfold in this ten-minute blast, what was going through your heads?

Having the opportunity to do something like this gives us the chance to revisit and reflect on these past few years. It's so humbling to see how far we've come; having this doco allows us to remember the good times and also the hardships. When you're having so much fun, you often get caught up in the moment, so to take a step back and really look at what we've achieved as a band gives us reassurance that we are doing something good, which we hope to continue for many years.

Climbing The Summit explores your first few years as a band, from coming together as mates to jam out some tunes to playing these giant sold-out shows with Beddy Rays. When you reflect on everything you’ve done and been through as a band over the past three years, how would you describe this first chapter of the South Summit story?

We have always believed in mateship over music. For us, it was all about building that connection and doing things together that didn't relate to music. Everything fell into place naturally, and the music just followed. Sharing the same dream and all having a strong passion for music, we found ourselves playing shows every week until we had enough coin to record our debut EP, Merlins. The first chapter for us was just five lads having a good time just trying to figure out this music thing. We’re still figuring it out, really.

So where did the idea for Climbing The Summit come from in the first place, and what was it like bringing it all together? Did it feel like you were making some ✨true cinema✨ throughout the process?

We were approached by two lads from Melbourne who wanted to put their magic to work. Vince & Elliot proposed the idea of a documentary to us, and we were super keen to get the ball rolling. We met the boys during the first week of the Beddy Rays tour, where we found ourselves enjoying a few frothies just getting to know one another in the streets of Melbourne. They then spent the next few weeks travelling round the country with us, capturing some tour footage. Given an opportunity to create something special is always a blessing, and we are grateful to the lads for their amazing work.

Have you already started working on the next record? If so, how do you see it kicking your sound up to the next level or building on what you’ve established with these first three EPs?

We've recently embarked on our first album. We're aiming for a more refined and polished sound that we haven't explored before. This album's approach is somewhat different; we're not solely focused on every song being a potential single. Instead, we're delving deeper into song structure and dynamics. As we've worked on the songs so far, we've noticed a definite elevation from our earlier work. This being our fourth project, our individual parts have improved, resulting in fewer overdubs and a more spacious yet still vibrant and impactful sound.

SOUTH SUMMIT

‘RUNNING FROM THE YETI' TOUR

Thurs 2 Nov - La La La’s Wollongong, NSW

Fri 3 Nov - The Lansdowne Sydney, NSW

Sat 4 Nov - Howler Melbourne, VIC

Fri 10 Nov - The Brightside Brisbane, QLD

Sat 11 Nov - The Northern Byron Bay, NSW

Fri 17 Nov - Whammy Bar Auckland, NZ

Sat 18 Nov - The Loons Christchurch, NZ

Sun 19 Nov - Meow Wellington, NZ

Fri 24 Nov - The Rosemount Perth, WA

Tickets are available here.

SXSW SYDNEY

15 – 22 Oct - SXSW Sydney, NSW