A CONVERSATION WITH…NOAHFINNCE
Following his Southampton show and the news of a new My Chemical Romance song, Emily chats to NOAHFINNCE about the upcoming EP, My Brain After Therapy.
Hey Noah! You played your show in Southampton last night. How did you find it?
It was really fun! It was good. I was not expecting the crowd to be so enthusiastic. I had a good time!
For any of our readers that aren’t familiar with you already, can you tell us a little about yourself?
I make music and have been posting videos online for a good few years. I’m like chronically online.
How would you describe your sound for someone who hasn’t heard you before?
Pop punk-ish but a little more quirky than usual pop punk.
What’s one song you wish you’d written yourself and why?
‘Welcome To The Black Parade’ for obvious reasons.
Of course! How are you feeling after the new song that My Chemical Romance released last night?
I literally came off stage and my friends were just like “Noah!! My Chemical Romance just posted a new song like 15 minutes ago!” and it was too overwhelming. I still haven’t listened to it properly with headphones, but I'm excited to do that. I’m really excited, I’m seeing them on the 22nd.
I’m seeing them on the 21st!
Ahh shit! I tried getting tickets for the first show, then they all sold out. I bought tickets for this show and I didn’t even realise they had added new dates, so I was just like “i’ll buy it, i’ll buy it! I don’t know when it’s for.
Do you have a favourite song or lyric from your new EP, My Brain After Therapy?
I think my favourite song is ‘TELL ME YOU’RE OKAY’, but my favourite lyric is in the second verse of ‘Worms’, “I said to the doctor “take a look at my head” / Cos it’s been ten long years since it’s even been checked / He told me to come over here / Took a look in my ear and said FUCK / You’ve got worms in your brain.” I just like that, it’s like a little story.
How do you feel after playing these songs live for the first time? Are you excited for it to be released?
Yeah! I think that one was the one I was most excited to play live after we wrote it. I was like “this is gonna be really fun.” It’s funny cause there’s like three tempo changes in the song. It’s very chaotic to play it, but it’s really fun.
You’ve spoken about the songs on the EP helping you come to terms with a lot of difficult things. What was it like to write about such personal and vulnerable experiences?
It’s therapeutic, really. There’s songs about stuff I've talked about in therapy, but it’s therapeutic to write about them. I was writing them with people that were like, very in line with the kind of things that I was feeling. ‘Worms’ or ‘TELL ME YOU’RE OKAY’ for example, I wrote with Stefan (Abingdon) and Rory. The way that the session went is pretty much Rory asking me questions about what the song was about, and then writing it down on a page. It was literally like a therapy session writing them. Like a fun therapy session. We were all bonding over similar experiences.
If you could choose one song that will always make people think of you when it plays, whether your own song or someone else’s, which would you pick?
Ah, that’s a good question! Maybe ‘Life’s A Bit’. I don’t know, I like that one.
What are you most excited about for your upcoming US tour?
Obviously playing the shows, but I’m really excited for the food. ‘Cause we’re in a tour bus the entire time, we’re gonna wake up in a new place every single morning. I’m excited to go out and eat a bunch of shit and feel horrible about myself.
It’s the only way to do it! Is there anything in particular you’re excited to try?
I want to try Crawfish. I don’t know what it is, I don’t know if it’s prawny, crabby, I don’t know. Apparently it’s really good. I have a friend that lives out there and is like “you need to try this,” so i’m excited to try that.
Do you have a particular place or scenario where you envision someone listening to the EP for the very first time?
Not really! I really like listening to music really loudly in the car, so I feel like it’s a good one for the car, just driving around really fast, maybe that.
What do you hope people will take away from your music?
Fuck! I don’t know. I feel like anything I say is gonna sound really cliché. “Just be yourself!” It’s cool to be just very you. I feel like my songs are a concentrated version of the things I think. If people can take away from that that it’s cool to do that, it’s cool to be yourself, maybe that’ll be it.