Interview with Noman
I first saw Noman during this past year’s Blowout and was immediately impressed by the band’s well crafted songs and electric stage presence. Then, after Lee and I heard Noman’s latest album Broadcast, we knew we had to ask these guys to play MCR’s Sping Showcase – which will take place this Saturday night at the Belmont in Hamtramck (Noman goes on at 9:30).
In anticipation of their performance on Saturday night, I recently chatted with Shayne and Andrew of the band Noman.
How did you guys form?
Robbie Budai and Andrew Beer were in another band called The Blackbird Suite. That band broke up in January of 2007. Noman formed later that year when the two of us joined forces with drummer Shayne O’keefe. Andrew was working with Shayne at the time at Cass Cafe and he recently quit another band he was in called the Arc Exchange. We’ve continued with that line up up until this day. We have tried out playing with a few different bassists, but have continued on without a bassist until this point.
You guys have distinct sound for a “Detroit” band, how did it come about, and what are your influences.
Since we started and continue as a three piece with no bass we have had to be creative with how to fill out the low end without physically having a low end. to compensate, i have a 24′ bass drum and big toms and a fat grohl-esque snare tone. In addition, Andrew plays acoustic guitar through 2 California Blondes and a Sunn bass rig. quite the stack. also, we just try to be simple. We’ve always admired bands that are creatively simplistic and dynamic in the way their music moves and operates. We emulate that approach. It sounds vague but hey, we make music not essays.
FEATURED DOWNLOAD:
“For The Rock Gods” – Noman
How was your recent Nationwide Tour?
Noman’s most recent tour went very well in the sense that we were better prepared. Long gone are the days of sleeping in libraries and getting kicked out of laundromats. The shows were half good, half poorly attended. being a young band, we understand. We still learned a lot about the not-so-good shows to take something out of it. You have more time to talk to the other bands, get a feel for the city and the scene. The good shows are always great because you actually get paid, sell some records, play with more serious bands. We’ve toured with other bands like I, Crime and The Summer Pledge and we’ve toured alone. I don’t think we can say which we like better.
What’s it like playing to crowds that may not know your material?
Playing to crowds who don’t know our material can be tricky because we’re used to so much love in our city but no one knows who we are even as close as Toledo (yet?) we try to be memorable and engaging. hard-hitting, sweat, jumping on shit. We’ve also learned it’s very good to be professional. Set-up and tear down quick, be tuned and ready to go, thank the other bands and your friend that hooked you up with a show. We also don’t take it personally if no one watches us or if people seem indifferent. but the people that do give a shit, will give a shit next time we play their city too. and they’ll help you out.
Tell us about your record label Woodbridge Records?
Woodbridge Records started out of the necessity for Noman and our friends to have an outlet for our records. The indie record label climate is very strange these days. It’s very difficult to be connected to the labels that you like and it can be a toss-up to start a relationship with the many upstarts. and as many Detroiters know, if you want anything done right you have to do it yourself. So, as of now we have three records out, working on a few more. The distribution climate right now is also super-fucked. Distributors that we all grew up on are all folding like Touch & Go and Lumberjack, so it’s going to be back to basics for everyone. But that’s what we know, the basics. So yeah, everyday we drag ourselves out of bed and meet at the shack and talk about what to do next, and do it.
What’s it like having your own record label?
Having our own record label is a lot of work!! Shit. Woodbridge, along with every other start-up, is operating on no budget. We all dump our own hard earned cash into this project, eat table scraps and ride bikes everywhere. cut costs. And that’s the romance of the struggle. It’s cool because we don’t have to answer to anyone and have complete control. We can work with whoever we want. Luckily, we have mega talented friends that trust us with their art. These are the coolest bands we know of and we wanna move some wax. Also, we have tons of friends that donate design jobs or web support because they are behind us as well.
Do you still have a day jobs?
We are striving to make music and records our livelihood. Most of us have gigs in bars and such but we’re more than just musicians. We’ve all got a hustle. Shayne has a bicycle food delivery company in Detroit. Robbie makes hand built, custom guitars not to mention, he’s a brilliant screen printer. Andrew heads up the Woodbridge Community Garden. And we’re all cooking up something great coming soon from the shack…
What do you think of the current music scene in Detroit?
The current music scene in Detroit, in my humble opinion, is a difficult topic to tackle. it’s easy to say, “it’s great, so much community!” But what I, personally, think is we need more. More bands and more venues. There’s very few DIY venues around here and we want more dammit! more involvement. And one thing I like about other cities and their music scenes is that there is a lot of competition. and competition makes all of us, as artists, venues, work harder and strive to make our work stand out. A lot of people here wanna set an example because we want to help make Detroit a better place. We want people to move here and start bands and paint and build and get involved. We want more inspired minds around to inspire us. and it’s happening! So yeah, the music scene is great here. the community is bubbling with prospect.
** Noman will open our Spring Showcase on Saturday at the Belmont (6/5). Make sure you arrive by 9:30 – you don’t want to miss these guys (and yes The Belmont will have the Wings game on.)