INTERVIEWS
NOI YA
Noi Ya is an Ottawa based artist who is making waves in the Ottawa indie and punk scenes. He puts on an energetic and entertaining show. Ottawa Sound talked to him about the release of his EP.
My first question is where did you get the idea to use Noi Ya as your Pseudonym?
It is a secret 😝 I made a promise to someone that I wouldn’t tell anyone, and I intend to keep it.
What is the title of your latest EP?
The Self Immolation EP
How many songs will be on it?
Six for sure, aiming for around six maybe some bonus tracks
Where did the name for the EP come from?
The Name came from a point from an assignment in class where the Monks were lighting themselves on fire to protest the Vietnam war and I thought it was beautiful.
Are you releasing it all digitally or will there be physical copies?
Was thinking of doing this thing where I use micro-sd’s and using less plastic since I’m kind of an enviro hippy. If it was a full record I might use vinyl.
Are you playing any shows soon?
Lots of shows. Bunch in April. None this month. Harder to get people to come out in the colder months so I’ll be playing less until the snow is gone. I’m for sure playing on April 7th at Avant Garde.
What/who are some of your influences?
Listening to smaller artists to hear new things and one that I’m always listening to is Beck. I like artists who do new wave and synth pop, Joy Division, Prozzak. Small time guys include Justice’s new album because of the funkiness and Death from above 1979. One I have listened to quite often lately is Neon Indian’s night school.
What got you into making music?
Before this I was in a death metal band, starting on my own I was listening to Coldplay and Weezer, Ramones. I got into music during junior high when things got confusing and I wanted something to help find my way. I was lucky to have a family where music was important but not forced upon me.
Any advice for new Ottawa artists?
Realize that not all promoters are considering your best interests, you need to work with people who consider you a friend. Don’t take shortcuts when writing or making your music.
How is social media impacting the scene in Ottawa?
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To celebrate the release of their E.P. The Ottawa Sound caught up with the band before their set at The House of Targ in Ottawa. This group of young musicians are down to earth and funny. You can tell that they function well as a team and have great chemistry not only through watching them play but also by just chatting with them.
QUESTION TIME:
1. How did you come up with your band name?
a. Our old drummer, named Ryan, lives on a street called Castlefield and we decided to use that as a name. About two weeks after we came up with the name, Ryan and the band had a falling out and Matt, our new drummer funnily enough actually lives on the corner of that street so we kept the name.
2. How did you form as a band?
a. Ryan, “As you know with the music scene in Ottawa it’s pretty small and runs in circles, so Dex and I had some mutual friends and met up that way, and when I was like 8 I sent Matt a friend request on Facebook because he was the only other musician I knew of but he was like ‘who are you?’ and my dreams of playing music with him were crushed (laughs) but then we started talking again when we were like 15 and here we are”
3. Who are some of your musical influences?
a. Various influences between us,
b. Matt “Blink 182”
c. Ryan, “American Football, Modern Baseball, and I went through a phase with ACDC”s Back In Black”
d. Connor, “Mine aren’t really relevant to the band but like Black Sabbath and The Sex Pistols.”
e. Dexter, “I guess mine are like, Tiny Moving Parts and Freethrow and stuff like that.”
4. How did you come up with the name for your E.P?
a. Ryan, “We have a song called Broken High School Mascot and that’s where we got the name. We just shortened it to The Mascot E.P.”
5. What process do you use for writing your music?
a. A variety really but the best one is, especially if you’re in a band to just jam together and see where it goes and build on it.
6. Why did you decide to make it a 3 song release?
a. Money. Honestly, it’s so expensive to record music and since Matt and I are still in High School we just decided 3 would be enough. But in reality we probably spent just as much money Ubering to Orleans from Stittsville as we did on recording (all laugh) Ryan ”But also I find that when I’m just getting into a band I mostly just want a little teaser, unless I completely fall in love with their music in which case I’ll get their entire discography, but mostly when I find a new band 2 or 3 songs is enough to start so I applied that logic to the E.P.” “Mike also gave us a great deal and was really fun and easy to work with, I won’t go into the details of pricing but he was great to us”
7. How did you find the experience of recording?
a. All, “Fun! So much fun. Oh man it was great” “Mike Poisson is a super cool guy and worked well with us as a team and was just all around great. Made the process even better for us”
8. Who was your producer?
a. Mike Poisson. He’s super good and very intelligent. Really cool guy and will work with any genre too.
9. Will you do a mini-tour or just local shows?
a. Dexter, “Mostly local shows and we’ve got a little tour coming, not really a tour though we just did a show in Quebec City.” “We’ve got a couple little shows coming 1 in May, 1 in early July and 1 in late July as well”
10. From the venues you’ve played so far, which is your favourite?
a. This one! House of Targ. They have perogies and always have a decent turn out. The second favourite is the Nepean #askapunk house, but they don’t have perogies, so Targ wins.
11. Craziest thing to ever happen at one of your shows?
a. Ryan,” Aparently at one of our earlier shows this one guy after one of our first songs was just standing off to the right of the stage and crying”
12. How do you find social media affecting the music industry?
a. Social media is great for us. We blew up out of nowhere after Shutter Music recorded one of our live songs and we got like 15 000 views in under 48 hours. From there we had people from Montreal telling us they were going to come to this show actually, I don’t know if they made it but the thought counts. Also we get recognized around the city every now and then which really throws us of (all laugh). It’s also how we contact other bands and promoters in order to book shows so as a whole social media has helped us grow as a band and branch out.
13. Any advice for new Ottawa area artists?
a. Just be professional. Whenever you’re talking to a promoter or another band, make sure that you are polite and professional. As a promoter (Ryan) I find that sometimes a new band will message me and they’ll just come off as entitled and thinking that they’re the next big thing and that is just not a good way to treat bands and promoters.
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