Noah & Wu Tang Killa Beez Shyheim and Prodigal Sunn Interview November 2011
By: Charlie Hearn
Urban rocker Noah releases his debut single ‘Immortal’ via Last Ten records on December 6th. The lead track from his album Five Decades Below, it features Prodigal Sunn and Shyheim of Wu Tang Killa Beez, who accompanied Noah to London for a few shows last week. Charlie Hearn caught up with the trio at their rehearsal space in Shepherds Bush for a chat on rap, rock and religion.
Rockfeedback: Hello boys, so how are the rehearsals going so far?
Noah: Really well, the guys flew in last night, so they got some good sleep, took it easy and today we’re just getting everything in place. We started out with the acoustic thing first and then we’re taking it into the rock set second; it’s just two different aspects of what I do.
RFB: You’re back on British soil now but only for a very short period of time, is that right?
N: It’s just for a couple of weeks really, then we go back to America but this is a big deal, I haven’t played here (in London) for four years now.
RFB: And do you get a chance to go back to Wales at all or is it just a business trip this time around?
N: The great thing is that my mum is coming up (smiles) but I would have gone down for sure, I try to go down whenever I’m here.
RFB: So it’s a pretty busy schedule for you at the moment I would imagine in the build up to the release ‘Immortal’, how would you describe the single to someone who hasn’t heard it before?
N: It’s a rock hip hop track but also alternative, it touches on different things, my dad used to do his thing with the Motown and my mum was into Bob Dylan, in a nutshell that’s what I’m about.
RFB: The first thing that stood out when I first heard the track was that it addressed some quite deep and philosophical themes. Urban music still often gets a bad rep, especially in the British press; I was wondering if that’s something that you consciously try to challenge or whether it’s something that crops up in the creative process?
N: Consciously as a human being I’m just trying to be awake. Creatively, and I won’t name names, there’s certain rappers that have come onto my tracks and it just didn’t work, because what they talk about is of no relevance to what I’m into. Whereas with these guys (Shyheim and Prodigal Sunn) just came in and spoke about their lives and it just works, as a unit we really work together.
RFB:So how did the hook up with Shyheim and Prodigal Sunn come about?
Prodigal Sunn: The connection was back in 2004, Noah came to rent our studio 36 Chambers and the producer introduced me to him, he told me that it had acoustic guitar on it and I like acoustic guitar. So I heard what he was doing and I was like ‘yeah, I can rock with this’ I was just chilling and listening to the track and I decided to call up Shy.
Shyheim: So I came to the studio to see Noah, and that’s the only song I’ve done in my life where I had a copy of it and I played it to my boys and they just wanted to tell somebody else about it. I really can’t explain it to you, people must have thought I was crazy, it just fitted.
RFB: So did you start writing together straight away or did you hang out for a bit first?
PS: It was spontaneous, we were at the studio, we heard the song and I already had something for it. Originally I was meant to do 16 bars but then Shy and me split it and did 8 each and it just came out ill. Our music is always about substance and content, so all the three sounds compliment each other, three pieces of the same puzzle that fit.
N: And the fourth piece was the producer, he wanted to take me to 36 Chambers. Now, rock is more my thing but rap is a close second and that place is a Mecca for rappers. So I took my acoustic guitar down there and literally in one day I knew I had something very, very special.
RFB: Is ‘Immortal’ an accurate reflection of the rest of the album?
N: I’m trying to keep it as much hip hop and rock as I possibly can, the set I’m currently performing also features percussionists, so there’s more to it, but Shyheim and Prodical are on three tracks on the album.
RFB: You’ve recently released a video for ‘Immortal’ as well; can you explain the concept behind it?
N: When people see it a lot people ask me if I think I’m Jesus Christ and the answer is no. I am not born of the virgin Mary, my mother’s from Wales and she’s got the stretch marks to prove it! (laughs) The point is that I think we can all be Christ like and good dudes, don’t think about tomorrow, just enjoy the company of today and make every second count.
RFB: Religion is another theme that runs throughout your life and your music; tell us a bit more about that.
N: It’s a shame that religion has become such a dirty word, but faith and spirituality is definitely a massive part of all our lives. Whether you believe in a source or a higher power or just something more than yourself.
RFB: Is it true that at one point in your life you were in training to join the priesthood? How far along did you get with that?
N: I got very far, until the priest turned around and said to me ‘look, you’re not a priest but you’re a good man, go out there and just be a good man’, he said ‘one song is like a thousand prayers, just do your music, do exactly what you’re doing’. To me that seemed a little crazy to begin with but at the same time it made sense and I think there’s a plan out there, I think it’s all written, he just obviously got a sneak peak of the next page (laughs).
RFB: You were also an amateur boxing champion at one point, that makes for quite an eclectic CV! Tell us a bit about that?
N: I got asked the other day ‘how can you be a priest and beat people up?’ Well, Prodigal does a lot of martial arts and he will tell you the same, that a lot of it’s about defence. Your body is your temple and you don’t want anyone coming in and ruining that and boxing is so technical and beautiful, I just got obsessed with it. For me it went faith, music and sport and all of them went along together, I disciplined each thing. The thing I like about boxing is that it’s one man on one man, there’s only one winner, you knock the guy out, there’s your decision, it’s like running a race or driving a car. However, with music there’s so many facets out of your control that can stop you from getting past the line.
RFB: I suppose that a common link is the performance aspect, how do you guys cope with the performance side of things? Is it something that comes naturally to you?
PS: I’m always feeling good about it but it does depend on the crowd because you connect with people and it teaches you something too. You know, some people have waited all their life to see you, that’s what I like about it, when you’re on stage you’re all the same, it’s just different styles.
S: It’s a rush but I’m always nervous until I’m out there. The weird thing about performing is that I can never perform in front of my mum or my older aunts, I get super shy.
RFB: So is it easier to perform in front of 5 people or 5,000 people?
N: For me I don’t get shy or nervous, there could be 20,000 people or 5, but I just do my thing. It’s interesting because my dad used to teach me that even if there’s only 1 person in the audience you have to give it your all. But having said that, there’s nothing like the energy of 20,000 people, you’ll hit notes you’ve never hit before and come up with lyrics you’ve never come up with before. When I opened up for Slayer, that was a different ball game, I came out and the crowd were chanting ‘f**k off! f**k off!’ before I’d even opened my mouth, so I just gave them back what they’d given me. I was just like, you know what, let’s see how you deal with aggression and I literally jumped off the stage and this is where the boxing came in handy (laughs), I took out about three guys and I got back on stage and suddenly they were on my side.
PS: So you got back on stage and did an hours set! (laughs) You just do your best for everybody, I did Wu Tang shows where there were 25/30 people in the crowd and I’m shouting out the bartender and the bouncer (laughs) and sometimes you do better at those shows than you do with 20,000 people.
RFB: The studio is a different beast altogether, how do you go about capturing that same energy on record?
N: Well, it’s obviously more controlled, what we tend to do is bring people in, at least for the main things. For example, if we’re working on a guitar solo, that’s when you want 5 special people in the room that will create a vibe. What we’ll do is do 5 or 6 takes of a track and piece them together, the beautiful thing about the studio is that you get the luxury of bringing light and shade into the record where as you only get one take on stage.
RFB: Finally, you’ve already worked with a number of highly respected producers and artists, but who’s on your dream list of people to work with in the future?
N: To be honest with you, the people that I’ve wanted to work with I’ve worked with already. This is how it will work, take DMX, now I like DMX, I like his vibe, a friend of mine is managing him and he asked me if I would work with DMX and I would, I think that he could bring something to the table. So there aren’t really people that I target, I don’t have a list as such, but stuff will just come in. It could be a cello player or it could be these guys (Shyheim & Prodigal Sunn), it’s just anyone who’s right for the project but they have to be real and they have to enhance the sound.
Artists in this article: Noah, Shyheim, Prodigal Sunn