On tour to promote its sophomore record, New Zealand indie five-piece The Naked And Famous will play the Rialto Theatre on Sunday. The Daily Wildcat caught up with bassist David Beadle to talk about the band’s recent success and new record.

DW: You guys experienced quite a bit of success following your first record, garnering a bunch of nominations for some really huge awards. What’s it been like touring with all of that backing you up now? What’s different?

Beadle: It initially happened so fast. Any successes were all very new and we weren’t really sure what they meant until after the fact. So touring for us was just a really exciting part of being a musician and we were so glad we were afforded the opportunity to do that, because not many New Zealand bands do. On this record, for In Rolling Waves, we’ve come to realize that those successes, you don’t want to take them for granted. We spent a really long time in pre-production for In Rolling Waves and we’ve put everything we can into the live show, including production, lighting, sound, everything. It’s going to be great.

What were some of the things you set out to do differently or change when you recorded In Rolling Waves versus when you put together your debut record?

We were excited about the prospect of having our music heard in Australia, but on this record, In Rolling Waves, the level of maturity and songwriting has increased. It’s just an evolution of what we were doing with Passive Me, Aggressive You; our understanding of music and what works live has led to more well-thought out parts and a deeper appreciation for music.

You guys played Phoenix almost two years ago. How do you like the southern Arizona crowds?

I remember playing and I remember it being incredibly hot, but the crowd was awesome. It was really cool and we can’t wait to get back.

Tell me a little about “Young Blood” and how that song came together?

It’s just one of those things. We’ll say how strange it is that if [vocalist and keyboardist] Alisa [Xayalith] had never come up with that keyboard line … then maybe we wouldn’t be The Naked and Famous today. It was Alisa who was sitting in her room and Thom [Powers] was on his computer and she was playing around on the keyboard and came up with the lead line. And Thom told her to keep playing it and he started playing chords around it and eventually it just came together very organically. That was one of those songs which for some reason just worked instantly. The lyrics formed very naturally around that song as well.

What has been the most memorable part of your tour so far?

That’s such a hard question. Sometimes the most memorable parts, at the time you’ll think that they suck. Like being on a six-hour layover in an airport. But two weeks down the track you’ll look back on that moment and realize it was one of the most hilarious times … But seriously, performing every day is so special and that’s incredibly important for us, too.