Noah Schnacky tells us the stories behind Comeback and Where'd You Go!

Noah Schnacky is the Prince Charming of Country Music, by his own admission a romantic who is sure to rise to the top of his genre by singing about his quest to find true love! On stage he wows and woo's his audience, particularly the ladies as he sings exactly what a girl wants to hear whilst handing out roses. He certainly swept me off my feet at C2C last year and again at CMA Fest in June. I was gutted not to see him again at this year's C2C but comforted in the knowledge that Noah was releasing new music and planning to comeback (see what I did there?) at the earliest opportunity that he could! In our second interview Noah talks about how he's been thinking of his fans during Lockdown and tells us the stories of his latest releases.

It’s just over a year since we last spoke, C2C 2019, it was a shame not to get to see you again this year. How was the rest of the European tour?

I tried to stay as long as I could, it was absolutely crazy how one day everything was completely normal, we played a show in Amsterdam, two shows in Berlin, we were headed to London to Glasgow and we went from one day everything being normal to the next day everything shutting down. Countries started cutting off travel and it felt desolate, it was like an action film. We were on a train in Picadilly gardens when we heard the news and an hour and a half later we were on the plane coming home. The tubes went from being packed to being empty, it was like the apocalypse.

So you’ve got a couple of new singles coming out, Comeback and Where’d You Go andI just wondered if you could tell me a bit about the writing and recording process of those?

Both of those songs are totally different from what I’ve shared with my audience before and I’m really excited to share them with those people I care about. I think we come together when we’re authentic and that’s always been my goal. Comeback is about a relationship I’ve had previously that was really special to me and it was a long term relationship but I knew I wanted to pursue Country music and I knew I couldn’t do both well so I needed to pick and I picked Country music hoping that if things came at the right time then that would comeback to me. There’s always an insecurity of if you’re picking the right thing. I wanted to express that to my audience as I feel like we all go through that at one time or another, wondering if we’re making the right choices. So I’m excited to share it with the fans but on the other hand it’s really nerve wracking because it’s putting my heart out there! The second song is just as intimate for me, it’s based on a dream I had when I was 14 years old of a girl I’d never met in real life but in the dream, we hung out and went to the theme park, you know, that’s the height of a 13/14 year olds dream! We were hanging out and I don’t remember what she looked like but I remember what it felt like to be around her so clearly, I’d never felt that kind of energy. I remember waking up and thinking it might be a vision of the girl I’m meant to be with! I didn’t talk to many people about it, just my Dad and my best friend and eventually I put it into a song and it kinda fell out of the sky. It gets me excited though, if it is a vision then it might reach the ears of the person it’s meant for, how crazy is that?

JT Harding is a great songwriter who you’ve worked with a lot recently, what’s it like working with JT?

JT Harding is one of the greatest human beings I’ve ever written with, hands down one of my favourites! He’s total energy, total creativity, so easy to get along with, he brings people up, I’ve never heard him talk bad about anyone before. If I was going to get stranded on an island with someone, he’d be one of my first picks, he’s a cool dude and he’s super talented.

You’ve been in the studio with Dan Huff recently, what’s the recording process like, is it an enjoyable and creative experience for you or do you prefer the writing and performing?

My whole life I grew up listening to Dan Huff records so to work with him was ridiculously awesome. Dan has a way of helping you to figure out what to do with the song. He takes the meaning of the song and finds the track, the audio, the instrumentation to really capture and frame the emotion and message of the song. In Comeback you hear this sort of like dark subwoofer type sound in the verse which is supposed to emulate the emotion of the song. Where’d You Go has this piano at the beginning and end and it’s replicating the dreaminess of meeting this person and then not knowing what happened, but knowing that it meant so much.

What’s your favourite song that you’ve written and what’s one song that you wish you’d written?

Wow, that’s kind of like picking a favourite child! I’ll tell you the song that I’ve always wanted to write my own version of, well there’s two. The two most impactful songs are Dance by Garth Brooks, it has the ability to bring me to my knees, like even if it ends, it’s being grateful that it happened. Then there’s Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley, it’s my life theme song and it’s a song that’s stood the test of time. I’ve used it in my concerts so dissecting those two songs when it comes to my own songwriting, I tried my best to figure out what was so impactful about it. Songwriting’s like catching lightning in a bottle sometimes but both of those songs have a simplicity to their message and there’s so much depth in their meaning, yet simplicity in the way they’re described.One of the first times I tried to emulate that in my own writing was with JT Harding writing the song Maybe We Will. That song came out in like an hour and it’s exactly what I was hoping it would be. So I was over the moon when that came out as my second independent release. I don’t want to put it in the same category as those songs but we were inspired by them. It was really special to me. So that’s on the honourable mentions, but there’s a few I’m proud of and most of them aren’t released, I’m so excited about what’s on the horizon. One of my favourites is Where’d You Go and that’s because the story is not finished yet.

How have you been spending time in Lockdown?

Just trying to connect with my audience as much as I can, my ultimate goal is to turn fans into friends. When you care about people the rest is easy. I’ve been going live for half an hour every single day. 51 times now and I don’t plan on stopping, it’s good to dig deep for these people and to see the fruit of that. I’ve been writing a lot of cyber serenades which is where I find someone’s instagram handles and write a song about them and shout them out on social media just a way to remind them that I care about them.

That’s really lovely and unique! I know it’s hard to plan for the future but what’s next for you when all this is over?

Hopefully the EP will be next and after we do that I’d love to come back to the UK, C2C is on again next year so I’m hoping we get invited back for that. I still have a big dream to play the O2 arena, it’s a personal ambition of mine and this year they were letting me play in the main arena on the spotlight stage and it never happened so if they give me the opportunity, I’ll take it!