Keri Noble

Interview by Joe Montague

On January 10^th, pop rock singer – songwriter and musician Keri Noble will be in Iraq performing for the troops, and just a few days after her last Christmas concert for 2009, the talented artist took time out to discuss her current self-titled album, and to tell Riveting Riffs Magazine why she is looking forward to her trip to Iraq.

“I got a call from my manager about a month ago and she asked if I would be interested in going and playing for the troops in Iraq. We had been approached by a company based out of Minneapolis. They work with the USO organization and she (my manager) asked if I would be interested in going and participating in it. I said absolutely, go back and tell them yes for sure. She said, ‘That is what I thought you would say, so I already went ahead and told them to book you.’ She knows, she knows, that I would jump at that chance. I’m excited and I think it will be an adventure. It may sound a little stupid, but I do feel pretty honored that I get to go and do that, and hopefully I can feel that I am doing something bigger than me. I feel like it is a great honor. I can’t wait,” says Noble.

Venturing into a war zone to perform for American troops is not exactly a walk in the park, and one has to wonder if there is some trepidation on the part of Noble, “No, it occurs to me, but at the same time I think, that number one they would not have civilians going, which they do all of the time, if they didn’t feel pretty sure that they can protect you. They do have musicians going all of the time, so I feel like there is that. I also feel that it is too big of an opportunity to spend much time thinking about not going, based on my safety. I feel if the men and women can go and sacrifice their lives, this is the least that I can do. I feel pretty safe. I am sure that it will be a little scary, but I am not thinking about it too much.”

From the opening track “Watch Me Walk,” on the current album you sit up and take notice, as Noble packs the same punch as Sara Bareilles did on her hit “Love Song,” and Noble’s song co-written with Jeff Arundel, is about liberating oneself from a relationship that went south. Noble is strong on the keys and her aggressive style matches the lyrics “This is the part where I start taking over / Why should I let you decide / Life is too short / You bleed and it’s over / So now you’re gonna’ watch me walk out of your life.” The words effuse a mix of anger, hurt, and the singer taking back control of her life. There are thoughts of; you did not treat me well and I am hurting, and they are balanced by the mindset of a woman who is now looking forward to building a new life, a new beginning. Vocally and instrumentally, the song is also balanced, as Noble transitions between edgier, harder hitting vocals and then softer statements that are not quite introspective, but border more on her reflecting upon what this new life will be like.

“The reason that I called the new record Keri Noble, which is something you normally do when you are a new artist or for your debut, is I feel like this record is my debut. I feel that it is a much better picture, of what I am capable of doing, which is a little songwriter, a little gospel, a little R&B, a little pop and there are all of those flavors. It is why it feels different to me (from her last album Fearless), but it is all still coming through the same filter. Both albums sound like me, yet they both sound pretty different,” says Noble.

“Fearless came out on EMI. I asked to be released from my contract and they let me go. There were three or four years where I didn’t have any interest in pursuing music professionally. I was burned out and pretty bitter, but it didn’t stop me from writing and so I went into the studio a lot during that time. When I signed with Telarc, which is my label now, I ended up giving them thirty songs that were finished and that we could choose from for the CD. Since the record wasn’t going to come out for another year (it was released in 2009), I asked them to let me take six of the songs that we weren’t going to use on the full length album and put out an EP that (I could use) when I am touring. Fearless was such a different time in my life and I sounded different. The songs are different and so my concern was that in playing for people that they would then buy a CD (Fearless) that didn’t reflect what they saw. That worried me, so I asked if I could put out a little six song teaser. That’s what Leave Me In The Dark is. From Fearless to the Keri Noble CD there is a huge difference. I think that I have grown a lot. Fearless was a pretty quiet record. There were a lot of ballads, but I feel even though the tile was called Fearless, that I was pretty timid and I was still trying to find out what my voice was. I was feeling pressured and that they (EMI) wanted me to be, maybe another Norah Jones, a soft spoken piano player. Then I would go on the road and I was opening for many male artists. Their audiences were a lot of guys and I didn’t think that I could keep their attention if I was just playing quiet music in the venues that I was at. I started writing songs that reflected who I was and who I was playing to. That is when I think that I discovered that I have a bigger voice. I had more range than I had been using in the past. I think that was part of the reason that I left my label (EMI), because they were not excited about that,” says Noble, finishing up with a laugh.