Interview with Rob Noyes as told to Gilmore Tamny.
What upcoming projects do you have that you're excited about?
I have an LP coming out on Poon Village records. Hopefully that'll be out in a few months.
How do you describe what you do when nice people ask?
I have to imagine there are drawbacks to being a nice person. One of them must be when you politely ask someone what they do and they try to get you to listen to their instrumental finger-style acoustic guitar demos on their Soundcloud page. (note: please see links below)
How long have you been playing acoustic music? What did you do before then?
I've been playing solo acoustic guitar in front of people for about 2 years. Before that I played bass in a number of local rock bands.
The work of yours I'm familiar with is all instrumental, and I was thinking in a sense I experience parts of it as lyrics–as the ah–commo se dicci?–lines or threads of music work like words in that I almost could sing along–but as we're talking about lyrics: did you ever write lyrics? Do you ever wish people would knock off all the lyrics? Have a favorite lyricist?
I probably write/perform in a way that compensates for the lack of vocals in some way. Hopefully it's something people aren't thinking about when I play.
Do you have a routine around practice? Or only under certain circumstances (show coming up, etc.)?
I wish I could have more of a routine. I just practice whenever I can.
How do you deal with show nerves presuming you experience them?
The first year or so I was playing solo I had really bad nerves. It seems like I've gotten a lot more comfortable. I think the way to deal with it is to feel lousy to whatever degree you feel lousy and then play and then it's fine.
Have you ever been heckled?
I guess I haven't been playing this kind of music for very long but this hasn't happened to me yet. I like to think I'm good at being funny/mean to someone who's yelling at me but it seems really fortunate that this hasn't come up. I bet heckling an instrumental acoustic guitar player is really effective. Like say some sap is trying to get through his quiet instrumental acoustic guitar set and you're trying to take the wind out of his sails, yelling a bunch of cruel garbage over it is the easiest way in the world to do that I bet. All the hecklers who take themselves seriously are probably going to harsh noise shows.
If you are in a room with a guitar is it hard not to look at it?
If it's the shiniest thing in that room, then yes.
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To view more images of Rob by Jaclyn Tyler Poeschl check out her own blog here.
To access some of Rob's music check out these files.
https://soundcloud.com/robnoyes/shames
https://soundcloud.com/robnoyes/the-feudal-spirit-1
https://soundcloud.com/robnoyes/whom-dunnit
More Artists of the Month from 2016
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About the Artist of the Month
This program is inspired by the Nave Gallery’s “Featured Artist” program, which ran from 2005 to 2009.
SAC’s Artist of the Month program is a way for us to celebrate the enormous wealth of talent in our city, by shining a spotlight on a different creative Somervillian each month.
This program has been put together by a whole raft of people: Coordinators Jenn Harrington (2013-2014) and Kellie Veiga (2013), Gilmore Tammy (2017) and Somerville Arts Council board members Matt Kaliner, Tim Devin, Valeria Amato, and Michael J. Epstein, Bill House (2019-2020), Charan Devereaux (2019-2025), Tori Weston (2019-2025) and Andrea Read (2022-2025). Current coordinators, are Kerrie Kemperman (2019-), Seth Garcia (2025-), and Ben Cuba (2026-).
Know of a great Somerville based artist who should be recognized, please nominate the artist for consideration. We seek artists who contribute to the community through their strong work and community collaborations. Artist should either reside in the City or contribute to the City’s vibrant art scene.