Noah Schnacky was all set to perform at C2C 2020 before lockdown happened. Here, we chat about how surreal that experience was and we chat about his new singles available tomorrow.Â
Interview available on the podcast in the coming weeks.
Hi Noah!
Hey, how’s it going?
Good thanks! Your quarantine is definitely a lot more productive than most people’s.
Oh yeah dude, my gosh it’s finally letting up, but I haven’t minded the break, I’ve minded being in my house cooped up this long. I’ve been really trying to utilise it to use new platforms. My challenge to myself was that I was going to leave this quarantine a better person than when I came into it. I’ve halfway accomplished that.
Obviously you were meant to be over here for C2C – you made your debut last year. What was the experience like?Â
Oh my gosh, it was crazy, have you ever watched one of those movies where you start with a crazy scene and then it goes back to ’90 minutes earlier.’ There was a moment where me and my dad were on a subway, we were going into Piccadilly and the line was packed, about an hour and a half later, Trump said that he’d be shutting down all travel from Europe, except the UK. I remember hopping back on the subway an hour and a half later and it was deserted. It was so surreal, me and my dad sat in a subway in Europe. The lights were flickering and we were wearing masks. It was a weird feeling, and I remember thinking ‘how did we get into this situation?’ We had just played two incredible shows, in Berlin and Amsterdam.
I know last time you were over, you managed to surprise some fans and the relationship you’ve had with your fans seems so important. Has that always been the case?Â
100%. I can’t imagine another reason to do it, what good is it if it doesn’t remind others that they’re loved and valued? To make more money so that you can buy a house with another room in it, or to buy another car? It doesn’t get me excited. The thing that music is good for, in my opinion, is to remind people that they’re loved. Music can be that for a person, even when you can’t be.
It’s a special thing and it must make it even more special when you’re going into releases like this one, to know they’re as excited as you are.
No doubt. The thing that I owe to my fans, I believe that nothing connects with people like honesty and genuineness. When it comes down to it, the reason that I love ‘Comeback’ so much and I’m excited to release it is, because it’s new music but I’m excited to release it because it’s evocative of who I am, it’s a vulnerable side of me that I’ve never expressed before. Hopefully, other people will have gone through that too.
It does feel like you’ve gone a layer deeper in the track. Did that happen organically?
I can’t write songs that I don’t feel myself. One of my biggest fears in life is to have a song that I’m not connected to identify me, that’s why I write my own music. If anything, I owe that song to my last relationship and how insecure it made me feel afterward. I give a lot to my ex. The worst is that we ended on great terms and we’re still great friends, there’s no reason to hate each other. When it comes down to it, that’s where the insecurity came from – am I making the right decision to pursue country music rather than this relationship? I think everyone goes through that in their own way, choosing between their passion and their people. Honestly, I hope that it relates to other people when they listen to the song.
Lyrically you’ve gone deeper, but I think sonically you’ve also pushed the boundaries a little more. I know you worked with Dan Huff on them, who’s a genius.
Dan Huff is incredible, helping me to create sound that is most authentic to the message of the song, that’s ultimately the goal. When you hear the sound before ‘Comeback,’ it’s supposed to take you there, when you hear the piano solo in ‘Where’d You Go’ that song’s all based on a dream I had, it’s supposed to take you there. To me it’s not about experimenting as much as it is to get authentically true to the message of the song as possible. That’s where they just landed.
So, are you going to be doing more livestreams and connecting to people that way ahead of the release?
Oh my gosh, this is going to sound crazy. It’s wild to think that I was stressed before quarantine travelling the world and it wasn’t until quarantine started that I reached the world. It’s a wild way to think about it, social media has really allowed me to travel this world and touch people on every corner of it, from our living room. I decided to capitalise on that and get real with people. I’ve gone live 51 times now, every single night. It’s my way of connecting with my fans, because the ultimate goal is to expand and make friends. I think as you go deeper with people and you really care about them, I think everything works itself out. That’s all I want to do.
Final Few
If a biopic written about your life what would be the opening track?Â
Claire De Lune, it’s classical music, I’m a huge fan of piano. If there was a track ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love With You’ by Elvis Presley. I don’t think there’s a better song written, it’s written so eloquently and simplistically. The message of it is so ridiculously powerful.
Would you rather give up songwriting or performing?
That’s a tough one, but put me with my fans every time.Â
What record would you bring to a desert island?Â
Something you can keep picking apart, Old Dominion’s ‘Meat and Candy.’ The intricacies, the instrumentation, the cleverness of lyrics. I could listen to that for ten years and still find new things.
Complete the sentence…
Music is… powerful.
Country music is… the most powerful.
Noah Schnacky is… going to use it.
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