Interview: NoMBe

Yesterday one of my favourite new discoveries NoMBe dropped a new track aaand we're lucky enough to catch up with Noah for a quick, but fruitful interview!

Dig into his upbringings, his upcoming album They Might've Even Loved Me and... get a taste of his new "Bad Girls" below.

Hey Noah! Wie gehts? Where do we find you today?

Haha mir geht's gut! Can't complain...I'm in Hollywood in my studio at the moment.

I guess it goes without saying - you're really creative person. How does all this music and film-related passion and creativity resonated to your amateur boxing career? Would you draw a parallel between these seemingly different activities?

Very good question, I'm not sure that my art or creativity directly contributed much to my athletic aspirations, but rather the other way around. I learned a lot about myself in terms of tenacity and discipline...not letting your fear overcome you when it's time to perform.

Since you had the dream of becoming a director before and have tried acting, have you thought about connecting your love for music and film like writing a soundtrack/film score? If you could work with one director out there, who would that be?

Absolutely! I'm a total film nerd and scoring was part of why I moved to Los Angeles in the first place. I never though my personal music would take off like this and while I was writing my first songs that saw the light of day I was always looking for scoring gigs. over the years I've done short films, a feature and some web series. It's a ton of fun!

Any good movies you've seen recently? Something you would recommend and why it grabbed your attention?

The most recent film I loved was this South African film "Chappie" that starred Die Antwoord. It's really well done, from it's cinematography to the soundtrack, the acting...I just love stories that are original and creative like that. 

I also loved "Moonlight" very much. I tutored kids in Miami during college so that one hit me in a very personal place. Definitely go see it!

You're writing young song, playing multiple instruments, sing, produce. Do you ever see yourself as writing songs for other artists?

Totally, it's really cool to see other artists interpret your songs. It hasn't happened much, but I'm aiming to collaborate more in that way in the feature.

I really like your approach towards your upcoming album They Might've Even Loved Me - no fillers. It's being released track by track one month at a time. Was that decision made after having all songs in your head or prior writing you just knew you're going all or nothing?

It happened very organically. I was writing a ton and it was actually my manager that pointed out that these new songs were all about women.

Tell us about your label and management team TH3RD BRAIN Records - how did you guys start working together, do they support you on rather pure distribution/release level or its more of a guidance/mentorship which I believe is quite important for young artists?

It is definitely all of the above. I would say they function as a full service artist development company at this point. I was introduced to Gallants manager Wade Davis who ended up bringing Jake to my first show and they expressed interest in managing me. It took a while to figure out the best approach and we became genuine friends in the process.

What's the hardest thing you had to sacrifice for music?

Being close to my family and the ones I love. I miss them a lot. Then of course there's the classic artist struggle, sleeping on couches and living pay-check to pay-check for years. It's tough especially if people tell you you should be doing something else, but my parents were always incredibly supportive. I owe them everything.

What's the story behind your right hand tattoo?

Yoooo how do you have all this knowledge?? Well, if you're referring to the "open hand" on my wrist, I got it at last years FYF festival in LA. They were giving out free tattoos in Spotify's artist area and I figured I'd never get a free tattoo again. I picked the open hand because it reminded me of the Hindu saint Sai Baba. My mum always had his photo in her bedroom in which he had an open hand that emitted a ray of light. It symbolizes vulnerability and creativity to me.

How does your family who are also musicians look at your music success? Do they rather just enjoy what's going on or try to keep you grounded/push you forward to constantly improving?

It's a mix of both. But keeping me grounded has never really been a topic of conversation...my dad's more concerned with me continuing to write good songs. Also, flaunting is pretty frowned upon where I'm from and I'm from a very small town. When I'm around them I'm just Noah if that makes sense...

All that being said, what's one random thing most people don't know about you (a weird habit could work as well)?

My whole life I wanted to be a stand up comedian and now more than ever. I tend to watch comedy in the studio when I'm taking a break and just admire all the comics. One day, haha.

So, what's ahead for the rest of 2017? When's the last sound piece of the They Might've Even Loved Me puzzle expected?

Last piece will be dropping in December. Aside from the songs we're playing a lot of festivals and possibly touring in the fall, collaborations...coming to Germany and Australia as well. We'll see!

Thanks for the interview, Noah! Looking forward to seeing you live some day! Any last words of wisdom?

Thank you! I hope I can inspire people to do what they love. I'm just lucky to be here! :)

Stay up to date with Noah and drop by NoMBe's artist profile. Cheers!