Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to KG Noble. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

KG, appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I came to playing music late in life. That is, I learned to play as an adult in my twenties -I didn’t take music lessons as a child. I became obsessed with music in my teens, buying records and listening to the radio all the time. In college, I continued to collect music and started to going to see live bands. I even became a college radio DJ so that I could share my music finds with others. I viewed musicians as special people with magical powers.

I longed to participate but I felt that it was too late for me since I was an adult and I’d had no music lessons Everything changed one day when I managed to get backstage after a concert by one of my favorite rock bands and I spoke with one of the guitarists at length about how much I admired what he did and how I wished that I could do that, too. He was incredibly kind and encouraged me to do it in spite of my fears and limitations. He didn’t talk down to me or shut me out of what I thought was an exclusive club. He said that if I wanted to do it, I should. That gave me the confidence to buy my first guitar and take a few lessons.

But it was hard and practicing made my fingers hurt. It took a lot more effort and time than I had bargained for and it seemed like I had bitten off way more than I could chew. Practicing alone in my room was very discouraging since I made so little progress. I realized that I would need more motivation. So I answered an ad for an all-girl band in New York City. The ad said that any level of experience was welcome. I gave it a shot. The singer liked me and took me on board even though I told her I could barely play. She said she liked my attitude and was confident that I could do it if I tried. That made me work a lot harder since I didn’t want to let her down. After playing cover songs for a few months she brought in some new songs for the band and invited me to help flesh them out. Soon after, I brought in a song of my own and the band loved it. I had written my first song just by imagining what it would sound like in my head and then finding it on the guitar. It was the beginning of my long standing interest in songwriting.

Looking back, I wish that I’d had the confidence to start earlier and that I had taken more lessons from better teachers. But hindsight is 20-20. I was so caught up in feeling inadequate, in feeling like it was too late for me to even attempt to play music, that I slowed my own progress. Also, many of the male musicians in the scene told me that I was wasting my time. It was discouraging. You really do need to believe in yourself in order to make something happen. But over time I persisted and my belief in myself won out.

KG, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I live in New York City and I write songs and play electric guitar. I have a band called Slyboots and I also play in other bands, including a powerpop band called Joy Buzzer. I love writing songs and playing music with others,

I never thought about being a songwriter when I was younger and I never even considered that as something that I could do. I wrote my first song in my first band one day when our singer declared that we needed some new material. I had no idea how to write a song. But since I was so completely unaware of the process I had no fear and no preconceptions about how it was done. I simply asked myself, “If we had a song, what would it sound like?” I was able to vividly imagine a complete song. So I worked on figuring out how to make the sounds that I heard in my head and I wrote down the words. To my great surprise the band loved it and we started practicing it. Then they demanded more. I repeated the same process and soon I was writing songs for the band. They weren’t always complete. Sometimes the singer changed some words or the melody here and there or the band would find a better arrangement for the parts. But I discovered a new creative outlet that I’ve been in love with ever since.

I love songwriting because it feels like every song is a puzzle that makes me want to find all the right pieces. Sometimes a song comes out of me almost entirely whole, and it feels more like I’m taking dictation, but more often I start with a fragment that I try to build into a whole song. This is a challenge. It’s a challenge that I love because there are so many different elements that go into a good song. First there is the concept, or what the song is about. How do you convey that particular emotion or thought in the most compelling way? Do you want to tell a specific story or are you trying to create a feeling, or both? The words matter, but so does the melody that carries the words. And the music that surrounds and supports the words is important, too. Every element affects every other element.

I try to ask myself, “What does the song WANT? Where does it want to go?” because if you try to force it to be something that it’s not, it will often feel stilted and dull. I think of songs as living entities and you need to pay attention to what it wants to be and follow the direction that feels most natural. Sometimes that’s a matter of simplying things, not adding more complexity. And you have to be well attuned to your intuition to sense when you are going in the right direction, When you aren’t open to the process you try to force things and it starts to get frustrating. That’s when you know you’re on the wrong track. But when you are open, and you let yourself try things that may not make sense or seem logical, you often find that the song evolves and grows into something even better than you had originally imagined.

I’ve written songs for most of the bands that I’ve been in over the years. I’ve also participated in many songwriting courses and workshops to further hone the craft. And I’ve definitely noticed a change over the years. I used to feel like I had a particular style of songwriting but now I’m much more open and I’ve written songs that I never could have imagined writing before. But that’s the beauty of the process. You discover more facets of yourself. In my current band, Slyboots, I wrote a song called “Come Back to Love” during the pandemic that was a complete departure for me. The melody and chords were very different from anything I had written before. But it came from a place of authenticity and truth. The band did an amazing job bringing it to life, and our singer, Tiffany Lyons, interpreted it beautifully. It’s one of the songs that I’m most proud of.

I feel privileged to play with so many talented musicians in this city and I’m always excited to see what comes out of our sessions. In this world of electronic media where so many of us are spending so much of our lives online I feel that it’s important to spend more time offline interacting with other humans in real time. Making music together is a great way to do that because you are creating something together that is ephemeral and that compels you to be in the moment. To me, that is real magic.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

There’s a lot of advice out there about the business side of creativity. And a lot of it is trying to help unite creativity and commerce. I understand that and I know that people want and need to make a living. But when you put commerce ahead of art or creativity you are creating a different kind of thing. You are creating a product designed to sell. When I first started out playing in bands, I met a lot of people who wanted to help guide me to make something more commercial and profitable. That seemed like a good idea. Who doesn’t want to succeed? But I found that that often meant trying to second guess the audience and the market first, instead of creating from an authentic center. And the more I did that the less I enjoyed the process. I hate selling. I’m terrible at it. But I was pushed into trying to figure out what might sell better. I often didn’t like the music that I made under those circumstances.

In one of my early bands the producer kept making us change our arrangements and our style to sound more like what was most popular at the time. After changing our sound over and over and over again I no longer knew what we sounded like or what our identity was. That’s a terrible thing to do as a creative. It makes you lose your center. And if you’re not creating from your heart, or from your intuition, then you aren’t really expressing yourself. You may be skillful with your craft, but if you’re operating from the outside in – instead of from the inside out- you’re getting a different outcome.

Now when I’m writing a song or playing in my band I don’t consider the commercial aspects at all. The only thing that matters is whether the idea appeals to me and works for the band. And the band feels the same way. Sometimes we are well aware that what we are doing is not commercial. But we have made the conscious decision to do what we enjoy, without regard for the commercial consequences. That liberates us and makes the process more rewarding.

But we have that luxury because we all have other jobs and we’re not trying to make a living from music. That has become exponentially harder these days and we have mad respect for anyone who has been able to stay afloat on music alone. Even for well established artists it has become extremely hard to make a living. They have to make different choices than we do.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Although we tend to categorize people as creatives and non-creatives, I don’t really think that distinction is true. We are all creative. But some of us focus more on creating art while other use their creativity in their work or other aspects of their lives. So in answering this question I’m thinking about how I respond to people who ask me why I’m in a band or why I keep writing songs if I’m not making a lot of money or getting super famous. To them, if there is no financial “success” then there is no point. I disagree.

Although it’s always nice to make some money, that’s not why I do it. If that were my motivation then I would have quit a long ago. For me, the whole point of playing in a band and writing songs is the process itself. The only question that I need to answer is, “Do I enjoy this process?” When the answer is no, then I’ll stop.

I entered this creative field because I felt compelled to do it. I was irresistibly drawn to music and I felt no peace until I started playing music. Part of me absolutely needed to do this. And this is fundamental to who I am.

For me, the process is where the joy is. When you’re writing a song, or playing a new song, that’s when you discover new things – new ideas, new sounds, new strategies. This is where the adventure lies. Upon the completion of a song – let’s say you release it and you get lots of good feedback – there is a short period of pleasure, but that fades. You bring the song to life again each time you play it but that’s a different process. The real challenge is in creating something out of nothing. So why only focus on the outcome? If you fixate on the outcome then you’ll be depressed if people don’t like it or don’t respond as enthusiastically as you’d hoped. You’ll forget the joy you experienced during the process. Sometimes the outcome will be good and sometimes it won’t. Just accept it and move on to the next creation. You can’t control how other people will react. And once you start caring too much about what other people think then you’ll second guess yourself and sabotage the process. Just go on the journey and don’t worry about the destination. Being creative is fulfilling in and of itself. I’m very proud of all the songs that Slyboots has released. And I feel successful when I’m proud of my work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.slyboots.com
• Instagram: @slybootsnyc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/slybootsnyc
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@slybootsnyc4627
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/slybootsnyc
• Other: https://slybootsnyc.bandcamp.com/

Image Credits

Third image with all white background (KG Rick Sq) by Nancy Adler