From NHS Cleaners To Pop Stars | NOISY Drop Single ' I WISH I WAS A...' | We Talk Music, TIK TOK & Getting Stuck In A Lift
Fresh from releasing their new EP ‘I Wish I Was A’ (October 16th), surefire ones-to-watch NOISY are proving unstoppable as they share their new high-octane live EP session, straight from a petrol station. This gritty yet refined performance sees the band rattle through fan favourites, such as ‘Put A Record on’, ‘Oi’, ‘Where’s Your Head’ and the title track of their new EP, ‘I Wish I Was A’. Making music with no boundaries, Worthing-based NOISY comprises vocalist Cody, guitarist Connor and producer Spencer, a three-piece hybrid of hooks, beats and escapism.
Before signing with Island Records, the band worked alongside each other at their local NHS hospital as cleaners. This did not hinder their uncompromising drive to pursue music, quite the opposite, in fact. Their routine was to record demos during the day, and fine-tune the recordings at night, together, whilst they cleaned the hospital. It was this routine that saw their EP come to fruition.
The trio have a busy 2021 ahead of them, supporting the likes of YUNGBLUD, You Me at Six and Bad Sounds across their UK tours.
When did your band form and how did your band evolve over time, when did you know you had something you felt confident approaching labels with?
We originally got together around 9 years ago and at first, formed an indie rock band. But we decided we wanted to experiment more with our music and branch out into different genres. We stumbled across a sound that we all felt super excited about and really suited the name Noisy. For the next few months, we perfected that sound and made it our own. We had a bank of like 30 tunes and decided it was the right time to start showing them to labels.
Where did you learn to make music? Are you self-taught?
I think it’s really a trial and error game! No one could teach us how to write the music we are writing today, you just get better and better every song you create.
Before signing with Island Records, you worked alongside each other at your local NHS hospital as cleaners. How did you balance the 9-5 grind with making music?
It was a laugh, to be honest, we’d all just make sure we put in the same hours every week and dash to the studio when we’d finished or on days off. Some days we’d be at the studio from 11-5 and then 5-9 at the hospital, sneaking off in our breaks to listen to the tune we’d written the same day.
Where did the name NOISY come from?
It took us a while to get the name. We wanted an iconic sounding 1-word name, and that’s pretty hard to come by without it already being taken. Lived with a couple of names for a couple of weeks but nothing felt right, then Noisy came along and it was like YES.
Could you also tell us about the :) :( Logo?
So a name that we had before Noisy was “Happy Sad”. We thought it sounded pretty weird and almost like a Spotify playlist haha. Spence made up a logo which is the logo we use today. Once we decided that Noisy was the name, we still loved the happy-sad logo so thought why not keep it. It looks so dope on everything.
The music video looks on point! How was the experience of filming the video?
It was crazy. Was our first experience of a big high budget video production, so we were all just stunned haha. The director and everyone on the crew made it such sick and enjoyable experience. Also flying to Ukraine a day after coming back from Boomtown made the first day pretty wavy…
A lyric in your music is “ 21 I still live at home” because of today’s economy a lot of young adults are continuing to live at home for longer and some adults are having to move back in e.g. lost job or saving for a deposit. Did this affect your independence in any of your experiences, having to live under someone else’s roof/rules etc?
Na not really, my parents have always been super supportive and chill. I think I’ve always just had the dream of going on tour for like 2 years at a time so never thought about trying to find my own space. I guess I’m just lucky they still want me here!
Do you have any funny stories or experience that has happened in your time during the band that you can share with us?
On the video shoot for “Do It Like That” we were filming in a lift and got stuck in it before we’d even shot anything. Couple of us were freaking out as claustrophobia ain’t the one haha. Probably didn’t help that the strobe lights were going off too!
Your single ‘I wish I was...’ is in a similar in vein to Skee-Lo’s - I Wish, did this inspire you? Also who and what inspires you the most?
Not really to be honest! It just came to me in the session. I love the use of repetition in lyrics so when I first wrote “I Wish I Was A Pop Star” I knew it needed to be repeated. We take inspiration from everyday life occurrences. Usually nights out, mental health, people we meet or things we read online. For inspo in the studio tho, it’s usually The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim and Brockhampton... to name a few.
Who are your musical guilty pleasures? In ‘So What’ you say ‘so what I like Justin’ Are you referring to Justin Bieber, and do you like just the music that he puts out or do you like the entity that is Justin Bieber?
I am yes. If anyone says they don’t like any of his music they are lying. There’s definitely a song or two snuck onto their playlists. Justin Bieber as a person seems cool as fuck, he dresses dope and looks like a super chill guy.
This song is a proper night out banger, it needs to blow up! Many songs have blown up on Tik Tok...do you use the platform at the moment?
Thank you! We do yes, still trying to get our heads around it whilst also trying to not fall into a Tik Tok hole for an hour haha. We’re starting up this weekly session where we sample a video from a drunk night out and make it into a beat... usually whilst feeling hungover.
Thanks for the interview we’ll continue to follow your journey; We’ll close with one last question. What’s next for the band?
We’ve been tucked away for the last few months creating loads of new music for the world. So more music, more crazy visuals and more good times.
You have recently been announced as support Yungblud, You Me At Six and Bad Sounds in 2021. Congratulations! How excited are you for 2021?
Way too gassed for next year, we haven’t been a band for that long so felt like we were only just getting started in the live world before everything halted.