Today we’d like to introduce you to Noah Roth.
Noah, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve always been interested in music, ever since I was a little kid. Before my parents split up, they were in a band together, and growing up listening to them practice in the house left a huge impression on me. I can remember wanting to front a band since I was like four or five years old — I used to sing along to music in my room and pretend I was whoever I was listening to. Once I got to high school, I started writing songs, and it wasn’t long before I formed my first band, The Oxford Comma. When I was 16, I started recording music under my own name, and that’s where things really started to happen artistically. As much as I love my former bandmates and playing in a band, there’s a level of creative control that you get when you go solo — it’s like suddenly you’re steering the boat all by yourself, nobody’s helping you. Kinda scary, haha. I love it, though, getting to really go out on a limb and create something cool and unique. I’ve since made three records under my own name, and it’s only been two years — I think the third one will be out by the time this interview goes up, so that’s cool. I actually just started working on my fourth solo album last week, which is super exciting. The fun part is that because I’m so young and I’m still learning all the recording tricks and developing as a songwriter/musician, I just keep getting better and better at realizing my artistic vision with each project I make. Hopefully, that continues, haha.
Has it been a smooth road?
It’s complicated. There are aspects of it that have been really easy; I was really lucky to grow up in a household where my creativity was encouraged and celebrated. Growing up with instruments around, it makes it a lot easier to get really good. I remember when I first started playing guitar, I would spend hours just sitting in my room banging at the chord changes to songs I liked until I could play them, and my parents were into it. There’s an element of economic privilege for sure, too. Like, I check myself all the time because I know there are probably kids with better ideas than me who don’t get to see those ideas fully realized because they just don’t have money too. That sucks, you know? It makes me really sad, but also really grateful to have grown up with what I grew up with. I think, too, that being a teenager and playing in a band in a community of other teenagers who also play in bands was really a blessing — having that built-in artistic community really makes it easier to get your stuff heard and play shows and whatnot. We used to put on these shows in my friend’s garage — it actually got kinda big to the point where she was booking touring bands and stuff. Then we all went to college though and that’s when it got hard. Being out in the world and trying to get people to listen to your music, to care, it’s hard. All these labels are just completely inundated with horrible, horrible submissions and it makes it really difficult for them to sift through and find the good stuff. It’s this constant struggle of, like, knowing that I make good music and knowing that if it made it into the right hands it could really do something, but not being able to get it into those hands. I don’t know, commercial potential is such a luck game. I do believe that anyone who works for it can be successful, but I also think there’s an element of chance that’s impossible to pin down.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I don’t really think of myself as a business, haha. I’m just me, you know? I think people hear my music and think I’m this super serious dude, but really I don’t take myself seriously at all. Like, artistically I do, but on a personal level, not at all. I’m just some guy who makes music, that’s really it. I guess if I had to talk about what sets me apart from others, it’s that I’m not really concerned with doing things the “right” way. There’s a lot of talk among musicians who record their own stuff about like proper micing technique and whatever. That stuff interests me only insofar as I want to know the rules so that I can break them. Making it as a recording artist is a crapshoot, and I like producing, so I wanna do that for other people professionally. I think that bringing that kinda unorthodox mindset to the table really sets me apart as a producer. Whenever I record, I’m always thinking, like, “what would be the most unexpected instrument or chord change or whatever to put here?” For me, it’s all about keeping listeners on their toes and really being committed to doing things my own way. I don’t know if that makes any sense.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
This is a really complicated question for me because as much as I love Chicago, I don’t really think there’s a place for my stuff in the scene here anymore. I think that if I had been making what I’m making now 20 or so years ago when labels like Thrill Jockey and Drag City were really hip, I could have been really successful, or at least indie successful. Now, I’m not really sure. I think Chicago is a really great place for weird musician kids like me to get started, if only because the city’s musical history is really wide and really deep. I guess it’s pretty easy to get shows here too if you’re into the whole DIY thing. It’s weird because I’m about to move to Philadelphia in a few weeks to go chase my dreams of being an audio engineer and producer because to me that seems to really be the place where all the cool stuff is happening. There’s still a community there, which is really cool. I think for me the biggest issue with Chicago is that there used to be one big artistic community and now it’s split off into a bunch of little ones. And it’s oversaturated too, so it can be hard to get people to pay attention. I don’t know if the old way will ever come back here, either; in the early 90s it was Seattle, then it was Chicago, now it’s Philly. Who knows where the really exciting scene will be next? Maybe Chicago again, who’s to say?
Contact Info:
- Website: noahroth.bandcamp.com
- Instagram: @noahrothisdumb
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/noahrothmuzak/
- Twitter: @noahrothisdumb
Image Credit:
Oya Haznedar, Michael Williams
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
