Noah Bond - Cut Worms/Bonny Doon/JA & The Yawns Interview
Born in Western Mass, Bond was asked a very serious question by his mother around the time he was in 4th grade, “drums, or saxophone?”. In which Bond replied, “which one will get me the most girls?” He was a drummer right then there! Bond was and still is, very influenced by The Beatles. As time went on it would be that Bond would have the opportunity to play with folks that he admired such as John Andrews and Max Clarke, eventually joining their bands and helping to make their records and tours what they are! In this interview we explore Bond’s youth growing up with his sister, becoming a drummer, playing the local circuits, meeting the Woodsist family, making drumming his life and much more!
When and where were you born? What was your childhood like growing up? When did you first begin to fall in love with music, more specifically the drums? Was this something that was relevant around your household growing up? Do you have any siblings?
I was born and raised in the Pioneer Valley in Western Massachusetts. When my folks divorced, my sister and I moved around quite a bit, so I kind of lay claim to the whole area. I also currently live there. I never deliberately intended to have western MA as a home base, but it just happens to be an incredibly convenient place to do what I do. It’s a really nice spot to live and I wish I could say I have a detailed knowledge/am actively involved in the local music scene, but since I’m traveling so much, when I’m home I rarely leave the house. I can’t really pinpoint when I got into music… It’s more or less always been with me. When I was younger, I fundamentally couldn’t understand how someone could listen to music and not want to make it. My parents had a pretty good record collection. I have memories of staring at their album covers and making up music in my mind to go along with what I saw. One early spark was the doc ‘The Compleat Bealtes’ which my parents taped off of PBS. This is pre ‘Beatles Anthology’, but still a decent 2 hour movie about the band. I must have watched it hundreds if not thousands of times. The Beatles were my first real image of a band, and they have more or less informed every musical aspect of my life since. Feels cliche to say, but it’s the honest truth. I started playing drums in the 4th grade. My mother asked me to choose an instrument, and I asked “which one will get me the most girls?” haha. She said drums, or saxophone (this was the Clinton era after all). I chose drums. Pretty funny way to start something that would come to dominate my entire life.
What would you and your friends do for fun growing up? Who were some of our earliest influences in your more formative years? When and where did you see your first concert and when did it dawn on you that you wanted to be a musician? An artist.
The Beatles have always loomed large in my life. When I was really young, they were essentially the only band. This gradually changed as I got older and eventually I developed a kind of backlash to them (luckily this didn’t last past 9th grade). I think preteen Noah thought of them as ‘kid’s music.’ Nirvana quickly took their place followed by the other usual bands of the era. Like most drummers of my generation (I was born in ‘84), Dave Ghrol is just a part of my DNA. There’s no way around it, even though for most of my life I have actively tried to fight those ingrained impulses while playing haha. All of my friends growing up were people that fantasized about being in bands; what style we’d play, where we could record, what our album covers would look like, what it would be like to go on tour, etc. I was lucky enough that when I turned 11 years old, I began attending an art/music camp that essentially got me started playing in bands. I went to a public high school, but the bands I played in were primarily made up of kids from the local performing arts high school. This was amazing because it tapped me into a group of people that took their musicianship very seriously from a young age. I began playing “professionally” when I turned 16 and could start driving my drums around. Touring around New England before I was drinking age was often a trip and meant many lonely nights waiting outside of a venue till I could come in and play for 30min and be promptly kicked out. I studied jazz briefly in college, but it too closely resembled that movie ‘Whiplash’ (I’d witnessed the head of the program scream at kids till he was purple in the face on more than one occasion). Almost everyone involved treated music like a competitive sport. I’m glad I left, but often fantasize about what kind of player I’d be if I had stayed in the program.
You’ve participated with some incredible groups and artists such as Cut Worms, Anna St. Louis, John Andrews and Bonny Doon. What has it been like to work with some of the folks? Have you ever been a consistent member in some of these group’s?
At the risk of perhaps sounding uncool, I must admit that I was a big fan of all these bands before I met them and began touring with them. I feel incredibly lucky. If you see me smiling on stage, it’s usually from a profound feeling of gratitude and the awe struck moment of ‘I can’t believe I’m getting to do this.’ While I’ve been most consistently a member of the Yawns and Cut Worms, it’s generally understood that my schedule may not allow that to be the case all the time. I really enjoy operating in a supportive role in these groups, and am quite happy to bop in and out when they need me. I’ve made some solo music on my own (you can YouTube ‘Hadley Grass’ if you’re curious), but I generally find that I most enjoy helping songwriters realize their vision, rather than writing my own material.
Jumping into Cut Worms, how did you initially meet Max Clarke and what led to your joining on the 2020 release of “Nobody Lives Here Anymore”? Would you mind telling me how you guys approached this record and what the overall vision was for the material?
I first met Max through John Andrews. I was on tour with The Yawns when John mentioned that he was about to start a tour playing in Cut Worms supporting Foxygen and said they needed a drummer. I’ve more, or less played with Max since then and I was pretty excited when he invited me to play on his 2nd record. Producer Matt Ross-Spang set us up at Sam Phillips Recording, the legendary Memphis studio that probably hasn’t changed much since the 70s (if not earlier). It was run down in all the best ways… A really comfortable and inspiring place to make music. Sessions basically began with Max playing us a new song on acoustic guitar by himself in the live room. We’d then try to find a way in arrangement-wise. For me this meant selecting drums, deciding if we wanted to record in the large live room or small booth, etc. I’m really proud that Max and I recorded drums, acoustic guitar, and vocals all live in the room together. This is a real testament to Max’s talent, as most other artists I’ve worked with prefer to overdub vocals later so they can get the perfect take.
Getting a genuine performance in the room is much more important to Max, which I really respect. I also remember that we both shared the same headphone mix. This meant that, in a way, we played TO the mix, rather than finding a sound/vibe in the mix later. I love this approach because it allowed us to be really in tune with each other & play with heightened nuance and dynamics. We were able to essentially self-mix by how we played. It also meant that after we finished a take and went for a listen in the control room, we were basically on the same page as to how the take sounded, which can sometimes not be the case if we had had widely different headphones mixes. Max and I never really discussed his overall vision for the record, but to me everything we did felt very tied to this specific time and place. We were able to do a lot of tracking in a short amount of time, resulting in a double album’s worth of material.
How did you meet some of the Woodsist folks? It seems you're a secret weapon for so many incredible artists and I understand you recently recorded drums on Keven Louis Lareau's most recent project. What was that experience like?
Secret weapon! That’s very kind of you to say. Not sure anyone would classify me as a weapon haha. I’d like to think I have a reputation as a drummer who works hard, puts the song first, and is hopefully just a nice guy to be around haha. I met Jeremy (Woodsist founder) along with all the other Woodsist bands I know/play with basically just from touring. Woodsist was/is a huge label for me, especially when I was in my early 20s, so it definitely feels surreal to now be playing with these artists tied to the label. I have known Keven for the better part of a decade at this point (maybe longer)… Basically since our old bands used to play with one another in the Boston area. He’s always been that guy who is working on great tunes but rarely wants to share them. I am thrilled that he has now started putting out music and am always looking forward to the next thing he sends me. I like working with Keven a lot because he has a very clear idea of the aesthetic he is going for. I sometimes wonder if this is tied to his talent as a visual artist (check out his instagram for some great illustrations). We have also toured together for so long and listened to so much music in the van that I’d like to think I have a good idea of what he’s going for in most situations.
What have you got going for this spring/summer? Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
In regard to this spring/summer, I have a lot going on haha. I just finished a 10 day tour with Widowspeak opening for Duster, which was incredible. Molly & Rob write beautiful tunes that are so much fun to play. Next up I am doing a short east/west coast run with John Andrews supporting his new record ‘Love For The Underdog.’ This is my favorite Yawns record to date and I really think people will be blown away by it. That tour spills over into some California Bonny Doon shows, and then I’ll be doing a 5 week full US tour with them when their new record ‘Let There Be Music’ comes out. Playing drums with these guys has been a real treat the past year and I can't wait to start playing with them again. After that, there are some Cut Worms plans lined up, but I am hesitant to speak about them before Max does haha. I think I can tell you that the touring Cut Worms band plays a lot on the new record and it's got some of Max’s best songs to date. I guess that the last thing I should mention is that when I am not touring, I am in my home studio doing remote drum tracking for folks. I started doing this in February of 2022 and it has been one of the most fun and rewarding things I have ever done. I love the technical and creative problem solving needed to get a specific drum sound and I love helping people realize their vision for their songs. The feeling I get when a client is excited by what I've sent them really can't be matched. If anyone reading this is curious how it works, or would like a high quality drum recording for their own song, or demo, hit me up on Instagram! I think that’s all. Thanks Dakota!
