We were lucky to catch up with the band Common Noble recently and have shared our conversation below.

Common Noble, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

All three of us grew up having music as a household norm. Our dad was a worship pastor at a local church. All of our musical interest absolutely came from him. I decided I wanted to learn guitar while watching a kids show on PBS called Zoom. Dave was always drumming ON everything WITH everything since he was a toddler and Aaron picked up the guitar around the same time. We had bands we followed and listened to growing up that we loved a lot but it was around the high school years that we went to some real concerts and started having legitimate aspirations to pursue music.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My two brothers (Aaron + Dave) and I (Ben) formed a band we called Common Noble during 2020. We’ve been musicians since we were kids but we were going through a season at the time where it began to make sense for us to start the band and make music together in a more official way.

A lot of bands more or less get to choose their fellow band mates based on mutual influences and interests which is great and organic. You don’t as much get to choose your brothers. You grow up together and sharpen each other against your will. You develop great similarities and great differences. The rub of your brother creates such an intense 1) compulsion to show off or compete and 2) excitement to create alongside and create with someone who knows everything you’ve been through. We’re a diverse bunch. We truly balance each other’s extremes and push each other forward both stylistically and in personalities. It’s truly a bizarre and immensely satisfying experience.

I think what we’d say makes us unique is equally the thing we’re most proud of. Yes, there are hundreds and thousands of artists and bands doing what we’re doing. Even just in our genre of alternative rock. What we feel sets us apart is what’s deeply infused into what we do. In both our live presence and recorded music we aim to simultaneously release a great balance of surprise and familiarity. This comes mainly from our pursuit for the world to have a glimpse of purpose and hope. We said in the beginning that we don’t want someone who’s in a difficult place to merely relate or identify with the music. Our ambition is for that person to feel mentally and/or spiritually lifted out of that place. Love and people is what drives us and inspires us to give our whole selves to this.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

There is something ridiculous about pursuing your creative “dream”. Especially when there are opportunities along the way to say “You know what, I’ve given it my best shot and I had a good time. I think I’ll just take this exit and pull over and have a nice, sensible, peaceful rest of my life.” It does take so much boldness and maturity to know if/when that’s the right thing to do. However, there is a greater risk at times of taking that exit. When you stick it out for “the dream”, you become aware of a hopeless hope and a restless rest that is terrifying and satisfying. You know great loss and great triumph in a way not everyone has the privilege of knowing. In abandoning the norm of rhyme and reason you learn how to trust.

There are no doubt moments when “the dream” has felt kinda like I imagine Peter Parker felt after the glory of his superpowers had worn off and he wished he were just a normal guy who could have a normal life. There are an abundance of “dear God why?” moments. That thought is always easily silenced by the privilege of having the attention of people who you’ve hopefully influenced for the better and the honor of being commissioned to bring love and light to this world that needs saving. We don’t think WE’RE gonna save it but we certainly want to be vessels for the one who can.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I don’t think we’ve been doing this long enough to have a tried and true answer to this… but once we played a gig at a local pub with a guy from out of town at which he was incredibly late arriving for. When he finally arrived he was in somewhat of a bad mood. He got worked up and concerned so he was swearing and a bit off-putting, as we all are sometimes when the day gives it to us the wrong way.

During our set we played an original song that was pretty blatantly revealing of our faith. After we finished he immediately approached and said that the song convicted him of how he had represented himself earlier. The inspiring takeaway for us was that we had written and performed a song that compelled someone internally in such a way that his heart was drawn toward light upon witnessing the truth in that particular song.

It’s no pat on the back for us, but motivation to continue not just making art that people identify with, but music that would pull them out of a dark or discouraging place.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.commonnoblemusic.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/commonnoble?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/commonnoble?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits
Shelby Estes