Noah Gazmen

Interview With Noah Gazmen

SBS:  Welcome to our pages!  Whether you’ve been here with us in some way before, or you’re brand-new to the site, it’s probably best to get an introduction from you so that we get everyone on the same page to start.  Tell us a little bit about the history of your music, and what’s happening with it lately!?!

Noah Gazmen:  My music career began when I was fifteen.  As I wrote and recorded over YouTube type beats on Audacity, I started off with singles, EPs and small mixtapes, tackling subgenres mainly popularized during the 2018 to 2020 SoundCloud Era (Alternative, Emo Rap, Trap Metal, etc.).  At nineteen years-old, I started producing and engineering more, allowing myself to expand to other musical subgenres such as: Ambient, Indietronica, Art Rock and more.  I’ve also become more of an albums artist, releasing full-length records every year with occasional standalone singles, Bandcamp-exclusive demos/covers, etc.

SBS:  Let’s talk about the before and after of where you’re currently at.  What’s something about the music that you’re making now that you don’t think you could have done five years ago, and what’s something you think you’ll be able to do with your music five years from now that you can’t do today?  How have you grown as an artist/band, and what steps do you take to continue your artistic evolution?

Noah:  Honestly, I can’t really say that there’s anything I do now musically that I didn’t know I’d do before.  As noticeably different my past releases are to my newer ones in terms of quality, I feel like everything I did led up to this moment.  I’ve always been heavy on storytelling, creating a world, versatility and experimenting.  I just think that I have more control over it now.  I do feel like I’ve improved in my performances and songwriting though.  I’m a lot more confident in my natural voice and my lyrics have recently been a lot more abstract, which I personally prefer over lyrics that are easy to read into.  The main steps I take to improve my art is to just live life and get inspired.  I’m taking in things every day, listening to different albums and EPs to find inspiration in.

SBS:  If you were to assess the overall health of the independent music scene right now, what would you say?  What are the positives and the negatives about the current state of independent music, and what do you feel like artists & bands can do to contribute to the community & help it grow beyond the music being made?  If you’re not actively looking to listen to the music of other independent artists/bands, is it really all that fair to expect anyone would listen to yours?  How do you help the scene around you grow?

Noah:  When it comes to the independent music scene, I honestly think it’s in a pretty good state.  I’d say most of my favourite artists and bands of mine are smaller, independent acts that I found via the internet.  I can’t really say that there’s anything negative about it too, because at the end of the day, people like what they like and I have no complaints about that.  However, I do think that we can all give each other more support.  Like you said, if you’re not actively looking to listen to the music of other independent artists/bands, is it really all that fair to expect anyone would listen to yours?  I try to find the time to discover new artists through social media, giving their most-recent drops a listen, saving it to my playlist and giving them a follow through various social media accounts.  Then, I shout them out on my Instagram, allowing my audience to show new people some love and support.

SBS:  What do you consider to be the biggest accomplishment or achievement you’ve had with your music to-date?  How do you personally measure your own success – is that something that even can be measured?  Is it awards, accolades, chart position…or is your definition of success based on something entirely different?  Should success, however you define it, be something that artists are continually focused on – or is success something that naturally occurs in the course of doing what you love to do?

Noah:  Right now, my biggest accomplishment is my recent album Hold Me While I Disappear.  It’s everything that I’ve ever wanted to put into my music, taking nineteen months to do so.  It’s very concept-heavy, it follows a fictional story, but hidden beneath it all is a more personal meaning that I’d love for people to figure out.  Just everything about this album is what I’ve been working towards throughout a majority of my music career.  When it comes to whether I think artists should focus on a goal or just let it happen naturally, I think it can be both.  Obviously, have a goal and understand what you’re working towards, but I think that some artists get so caught up with certain accomplishments that they lose passion when they don’t reach them.  Overall, I think you should balance working towards something, but also letting it happen when it does.

SBS:  When you’re working on something brand-new, and something about it just doesn’t feel like it’s coming together the way that you think it should, how do you know when it’s time to give up on it, or how do you know that it’s time to dig in even harder and find a way to make it work?  Are there distinct red flags you can hear when something’s not working?  What are the signs you look for that tell you to stop forcing the material?  What would actually encourage you to keep going with the process instead?

Noah:  This actually happened to me as I was working on Hold Me While I Disappear.  I had to take a break for a couple of months before I got back into it.  However, it wasn’t a complete break from working on music itself.  I spent that “break” working on three singles that I knew weren’t going to be on the album.  Instead, they made it onto a remix-focused compilation project called Film Industry Weight Transformation.  Once I was done with that, I went back to working on Hold Me While I Disappear with new inspiration and knowledge.  From there, working on the album became a lot easier.  When it comes to understanding the signs to completely stop working on something, it’s hard to say.  I’m not a perfectionist in any way, but when it comes to my music, I know what I want and I’ll always work towards getting it that way exactly.  At the end of the day, I’d say it’s something you feel.  If something you’re working on feels complete, then I’d say put a stop to it and leave it alone; if it doesn’t, keep working towards it.

SBS:  One of the points of general consensus in the art of making music, is that we all get our sound from somewhere…we hear what we like, then more often than not, we take tiny pieces of what we love to find our own voice & approach to go on and make music in our own way.  Essentially, what I’m saying is that it’s absolutely natural to be inspired by other artists/bands, and almost every artist/band ends up having that inspiration show up in their own work in some way, shape, or form.  What the real key is though, is retaining your own organic perspective – you still wanna be original too, right?  So how do you go about doing that?  Are there artists or bands that you know have been an influence on your style & sound?  How were you able to incorporate that influence without becoming too noticeably derivative and still be yourself?  Should we embrace and celebrate our influences more than we do?  It’s almost like we try not to admit influences exist in the pursuit of being original, but it’s like, bruh…if it’s there, we can hear it.  We all borrow something from those that came before us to some extent, don’t we?

Noah:  When it comes to taking inspiration from other music and art, it can be easy to get caught up in the inspirations and follow each specific aspect of what makes that piece of music or art.  With how long music has been around for, as much as I’d hate to say this, I do think that achieving originality is near impossible.  I’d assume that every melody, every drum pattern, every lyrical concept has been created.  However, I don’t think people should be too focused on being “original” as we’d probably be here forever, working on the same thing for years and years.  I think that, being inspired by something, taking what you like, then applying your own personal methods of production, mixing, writing, etc. will allow you to be your own creative individual.  However, to me, it shouldn’t be a main priority to make completely original music and art.  I think that, as long as you enjoy what you do and it comes from the heart, that’s truly all that matters.

SBS:  Has there ever been a time where you wrote something inside one of your songs…maybe it’s a lyrical line, or maybe it’s a riff of some kind…something that you did, where you surprised yourself?  I like to think we all have a moment or two where we can stand back and be amazed by something we created, and appreciate the fact that maybe, just maybe, we exceeded our own expectations of what we thought we could accomplish – you know what I mean?  Get as specific as you can so the fans out there know what they should be paying attention to when they hear it – what’s your favorite thing that you’ve written on the inside of one of your songs, and why does this particular piece resonate so much to you?

Noah:  There are so many moments where I surprised myself when it came to something I wrote or produced, etc.  However, what I think surprised me the most was my ability to create a concept record; especially my latest release, Hold Me While I Disappear.  I’ve made concept albums before, but not to this extent.  This one is different.  It has actual characters, events, settings…  And at the end of it all, while it’s a fictional story, there is a hidden, more personal meaning that I would love for people to figure out.

SBS:  I’ve been having a lot of great debates lately about whether or not everybody that’s making music has the right to be heard…and you’d probably be surprised by how different people seem to feel about this issue.  I know where I stand on it, and I think you can all probably get an idea of what my position would be from this free interview we’re doing here & the way we run things at sleepingbagstudios…but regardless, I’m putting this question out there to you, because I’m interested in YOUR perspective.  Just because you’ve made a song, does that mean people should listen?  If your answer is yes, do your best to explain why you feel that way & why we should make a sincere effort to listen to the music of others.  If your answer is no, explain why you feel that way, but also explain why people should still be listening to your music if that’s the case – what would make your music the exception, and not follow the rule?  Is there any value to an idea that’s not finished, or a song in its demo stages, or maybe something that’s not recorded in a top-shelf studio or with good equipment – somebody still took the time to make that song to the best of their ability with the means they had to create it – should that be listened to, or not?

Noah:  As an artist, I would like to think that everyone deserves to have their work heard.  The idea that one is willing to express themselves and put in the effort to create something that you can: enjoy, learn from or relate to, is amazing to me.  I also think that all qualities of music whether it’s a demo or a fully-produced studio record should be considered.  Like I said, it’s amazing that someone is willing to put their all into their work.

SBS:  There are ups and downs in the dynamics of almost every album we listen to, with very few exceptions.  Even those exceptions, probably still come down to more of a personal preference about what we enjoy about music and how we personally hear it, rather than anything being completely and totally “perfect” – you know what I mean?  Does an album actually need to have some kind of up/down dynamics in terms of what’s appealing to the masses in order for the best of the best songs in a lineup to be fully appreciated?  Wouldn’t every artist & band avoid the ‘down’ side (less accessible/less popular for example) if they could?  Does the ‘down’ side represent something else perhaps, like the story of an album or journey of an artist?  Is the ‘up’ side of a record as potent or noticeable if it doesn’t have a ‘down’ side to go with it?  Would a completely balanced album somehow be boring if it didn’t have the ups/downs that most have?  Do we HAVE to like every single song on a record for it to be considered complete?  Are the dynamics of an album something anyone can really steer in the direction they want to, or are all artists & bands simply going with the strongest material they have created at the time?

Noah:  I’d say it all really depends.  I’ve listened to many amazing albums with dynamic range (having both ups and downs) as a way to follow a story or give it structure, however I’ve also listened to many amazing albums that are either just calming or banger after banger.  For me, it’s really all about what mood I’m in.  And when it comes to other artists, I also think they should choose what feels right to them.  If they’d like to create a full Ambient album that’s calming throughout the entire experience, then all the power to them; if they want to create a Trap album that’s just constant hits, then that’s great as well; or if they want to put a little bit of versatility when it comes to the different moods and emotions you can capture within music, then they should be able to do that.  Also, I wouldn’t say that every track on a full-length project needs to be liked for it to be “complete.”  A lot of projects have interludes, skits, spoken word, etc. to fulfill a story.

SBS:  I wanna send out a shout-out to YOU from me personally – I appreciate everyone that has taken the time to talk tunes with me throughout the years, and I appreciate the time YOU have taken with this interview too.  Because this one’s a little different in the sense that it’s been sent out to multiple people and is a little more generic in that regard, I have no doubt whatsoever that we probably didn’t get to talk to you about something you wanted to talk about – so let’s fix that!  This final space is what we call the SBS Open Floor – a spot where you can say anything else you want to say to the people out there.  It can be anything at all…your main websites…something else you want them to know about you and/or your music…your favorite bands in the scene right now…the secret 11 herbs and spices to the Colonel’s secret recipe – you get the idea, and it’s probably best you choose something that suits you rather than take any of my suggestions, but feel free to take the SBS Open Floor for a ride.  Whatever it is you want the people to know, now is the prime time for you to tell’em!  Thanks again for everything – keep in touch!

Noah:  I want to also thank you for letting me participate in this!  All of these questions were amazing and made me think a lot of who I am as an artist, my opinions, etc.  I’d like to let everyone know that my sophomore LP is out now!  It’s called Hold Me While I Disappear and it’s a 10-track concept album that I’ve been working on for nineteen months.  One can probably look at this opinion as “recency bias,” but I genuinely think that this is my best work yet.  The amount of time, effort, learning, pain and research that I put into the entirety of this album is a lot; even for me.  It follows a fictional story of Jesse Greene, a father whose son, Nate Greene goes missing.  During the runtime of the album, we delve into Jesse’s mental state as he deals with loss, isolation, addiction and more.  On the other hand, something else I’d like to say about this album is that there’s a hidden meaning to it that represents something a little more personal.  I’d love to have people figure it out.  Maybe get one of those music nerd essay videos on it…  Again, thank you for considering me for this amazing opportunity.  Keep up the wonderful work, we musicians and music listeners need more people like you in the industry.  Love!

Find out more about Noah Gazmen from his official website at:  https://noahgazmen.mmm.page

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