Noi!se have taken over the Oi! and streetpunk scene by storm within a matter of years. First you had superb ‘Walk Beside Us’ EP which got followed up by the excellent ‘This Is Who We Are’ only to be beaten by the brilliant new songs on the ‘Rising Tide’ 12”. Least to say I am pretty damn excited about what the future will hold! So I decided to drop singer / bassist Matt a few questions about the band’s past, present and future, enjoy!

 

I find it hard to imagine, but please introduce yourself and the rest of the band to those who still haven’t heard about Noi!se yet.

I'm Matt and play bass and (attempt to) sing. The other members are Nate on vocals and rhythm guitar, Jesse on lead guitar and Kenny on drums

 

Altough you guys aren’t new to the scene with Noi!se everything went kind of fast since you guys started out about 3 years ago. Can you give us a brief history of the band?

We started in late 2009. The band started out with Nate and our good friend, Miko getting together and jamming once a week. Nate asked me to join and I happily accepted. The material we started out with would be the 4 songs on Walk Beside Us. The issue was that we needed a lead guitar player. I met Justin at a pub in Tacoma while watching a Sounders match with my wife. He knew of my old band and mentioned he played guitar. After listening to him once, we asked him to join immediately. Noi!se was formed. We recorded Walk Beside Us in one day in December, 2009, but it wasn’t released for quite some time. This Is Who We Are was recorded (again, in a day) a few months later. We recorded The Gestalts split in Dec 2010 and then Idle Action before I deployed to Afghanistan in early 2011. While I was deployed was when things started to pick up steam for us. It was also during this time that Miko stepped down from drum duties and Kenny took his place. I got home in Feb, 2012...which gave us about 4 weeks to get our set ready for the Rancid/ Cock Sparrer anniversary show. A week after the show, we found out Just was deploying in a little over a month. We had 3 weeks to learn and record Rising Tide. After Justin came home he found out he would be reassigned elsewhere and decided to step down from the band and our good friends and engineer, Jesse took the reigns with the new record.

 

I want to talk about your latest album ‘Rising Tide’ first. How was the response to the record so far?

The response has been incredible and very humbling. I, personally, was a bit nervous about how it would be received since I felt like my writing was a little different on this record and the band's sound had progressed a little bit, but the feedback we've gotten has been great and I can't understate how much it means to us.

 

I personally think it’s really good. But at first I was somewhat disappointed by the fact that it got promoted as ‘the new album’ and in the end there were only 5 new songs on it. Have you heard this more and what is your opinion on it?

I understand people wanted more new material, but if you glance at our timeline as a band, it will become pretty apparent that there just wasn’t enough time. We wanted Rising Tide to be a full length, but it just wasn’t possible. Our choice was to wait almost a year before we released anything, or release what we had. I think we made the right choice. Honestly, I take the fact that people wanted to hear more new material as a compliment and I appreciate that very much. We wont let you guys down with this new one.

 

Rising Tide’ also meant the reincarnation of GMM Records which was THE Oi! and streetpunk label in the 90’s and early 00’s together with TKO and Knock-Out. Honored?

Absolutely. All of us grew up listening to GMM releases and nothing could be cooler than being given the honor of representing the label we have so much respect for. That being said, we have had the privilege of working with some great people on other labels and that definitely hasn’t been forgotten by the band. We have been incredible lucky to get to work with so many awesome labels.

 

You guys are in the studio now recording the new album. How is it going so far? What can we expect of it?

The record is almost finished. For the first time ever, we are able to take our time and do things the way we want them. This record is easily the best we've ever recorded. Expect us to pick up where Rising Tide left off. 

 

When do you think it will come out? On which label and do we get a preview of it through an EP or anything? Maybe a release in the Under One Flag series?

I would expect a release by fall, but I’ve been wrong before so I will keep my mouth shut on that one........except for that first part, where I opened my mouth to speculate. We still have to talk to a few people before we can confirm that we'll be doing the Under One Flag series, but you're right in that it would be a great way to provide a sample of what we've been working on. We will have a new video for one of the songs shortly, also.

 

Besides the ‘Pushing On’ compilation everything else you guys have released is on vinyl. Are you a big collector yourself? What are your most precious and favorite records in your collection?

I am a vinyl collector for sure. I think my favorite record I have is a 1977 Stiff Records compilation. My vinyl collection (much like my music collection) is very varied and weird given the scene I'm in. Much of that has to do with me not giving a shit what people think and liking music for what it is.

 

I believe the line-up is steady now (no more duty in the army?), you think a full (inter)national tour is possible when recording the new record is done?

I am still in the Army and will be for quite a few years, so as the lineup is steady, my schedule isn’t....ever. We have had plans to tour Europe before and they fell through due to Army shit. We will continue to plan for one and we'll just have to see which time we actually get to go. We'll get there eventually, though.

 

Okay that’s it for now, thanks! Anything you’d like to add?

Thanks so much for the interview!