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WEHM All Access - Sag Harbor American Music Festival - Nora Conlon · WEHM All Access

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's WEHM All Access to Stag Harbor American Music Festival.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Looking forward to four days of free music all throughout the village of Stag Harbor.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: It kicks off Thursday, September 24th through Sunday, the 27th.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: And coming up on that Saturday, uh Pencil in Norah Conlin come into the Kids Squid Garden Lounge at 4 30 Saturday afternoon.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: And joining us is Nora Conlin.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Nora, how are you?
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm good.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm happy to be here on the radio.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's it's nice to meet you.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: And we be I became familiar with your work.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like it was I want to say last year, and I think you had just graduated uh from from college.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Where did you study?
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um I went to the Clive Davis Institute at Utah.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: So now where did you grow up initially?
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Were you are you from out here or?
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: I am.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: I'm from Springs.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I was like born in Philly, but like my mom's family is from out here.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I, you know, went to middle school at spring school, went to high school at East Hampton.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so I've been doing like cover gigs out here for many years now.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: When uh when did you start how old were you when you became interested in in music?
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like I've always been interested in music.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I think I I started taking it seriously right before eighth grade.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Was there a reason that that moment kind of where it shifted, or do you remember thinking back to eighth grade?
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of changed?
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: I don't remember like making an intentional choice to, you know, be like, I'm gonna pursue this.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um as an eighth grader, like this is the right path in life.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: But my parents had never learned like guitar and they had always wished that they had.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: So they put my brother and I in lessons when we were young.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: And then when you're like kind of like forced to learn something, I feel like I it's not very inspiring.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_02: But when I was able to pick it up uh years later again, after spring school introduced like ukulele to the music curriculum.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, cool, and I learned that first, like coming back to the guitar felt like a lot more like it was like my choice or whatever.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: And then I it was just like really it was fun for me.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: I felt like I was learning it quickly and I was getting good.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: What were you listening to musically at that time?
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: I was listening to like a lot of cold play um and the killers.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, cool.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: What was it what was it like you growing up in Springs and the East Hampton area?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Were you conscious of the local music scene, or had you um, you know, what did you know what was going on locally on the East End music-wise?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I didn't know so much, but I you know, I was learning.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: I was like meeting a lot of people.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: I started off, you know, right as I was beginning to sing and play and stuff.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: I would do like three song sets at uh local open mics run by like like Ray Red.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: He's like one of the first people I met in the scene.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I didn't realize like just how serious and like tight-knit the music community out east was.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, it's really awesome.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: But I didn't know so much then, and you know, throughout the years I've meet meeting more people, you run into them.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you you realize that it is a real community out there that's growing, and that's you're you're now a part of, which is very nice uh to hear.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, what's what's songwriting like for you?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: When did you how old were you do you remember like the first song you wrote and how has that changed?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because you obviously went to school for it, the Clive Davis uh songwriting classes, and I'm curious how did it start for you and then how has it evolved?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a good question.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like I have an interesting relationship with songwriting where when I like I wrote my first song at uh 16 or 17.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then I didn't write another one until like years later when I my Belmont application like required that I submit to original songs.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: And then, like, you know, even from there, I don't think I wrote wrote like my third or fourth until I was in my songwriting class at school.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: And then the professors are just like making you turn them out, and it's like when I'm writing a song like for myself and I'm starting it on my own, I get super like precious with it, which is also bad because I become a perfectionist and I feel like having to write four classes and to a deadline or to a prompt or whatever makes me feel a little bit like, oh, well, it's okay if I don't like part of the song because I had to follow the prompt, or you know, I only had a day to finish the song or whatever.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know if that like answers your question, but No, but that's interesting because it sounds like you only wrote a couple songs.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Did you want to write songs or and or did you just not were you just not interested in writing your own music?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: No, I was like super interested in it, which is like the funny thing.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: I just found it very difficult to let finish songs.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: That makes sense.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so you had started them, it was just kind of figuring out how to how to get it.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: And imagine that's where those classes really I helped you out to figure out how how to put it all together.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, what was it like as far what could when you start thinking about those songs and and even now, um, what kind of sparks a song for you?
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a lyric, kind of a melody?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: But where where did where do you begin with it?
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I start most of the songs, most of my songs on guitar.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_02: I'll have like an idea on the guitar, and then from there it'll be melody and then lyrics, but it'll be like section by section typically.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'll have like two chords that I like, and then I'll have like a melody that I like over them, and then maybe I'll do some lyrics for that, and then I'll be like, okay, but I want the chords to change for the chorus, or I want like a element to come in thematically with the lyrics here, you know, like it's very like uh section by section is how I tend to write.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: I never like see the song's arc before I start writing it.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, when you're you're writing, do you tend to stay kind of close to personal experiences, or do you just enjoy kind of creating characters and and different versions of your life?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think I stay close to personal experiences, but I would never say that like a song that I have written is about like is solely about one thing.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: Like I I feel like a lot of my songs are like very elaborate exaggerations of just like an emotion that I felt or like one little thing that happened, and then I'll like build like my own kind of story or narrative around it.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: But like I know that I'm like being dramatic about it in the lyrics, so and it sounds like uh is there a part of the songwriting process that you really enjoy?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because it sounds like the one you're finishing has always been a challenge for you, but is there a part of it that you really love to kind of dig your teeth into?
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, my favorite part of writing songs is um like finding the right the melody that like feels the most satisfying to me or like what I've been looking for, which is like I used to just like kind of just almost like freestyle over a song and like mumble like lyrics and like rhyming patterns until something stuck.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: But um recently I've really been enjoying like trying like every possible going like note by note and like picking which one I like next and until it feels like the perfect melody to go over the you know chords that I had written or whatever.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, just like crafting a really strong melody or something that I feel super good about has been my favorite recently.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it sounds like you've been performing for a while.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but how long have you um been performing on different?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: I know you've done a lot of different stages, of course, out east with the talkhouse and bass street, but also in the city too.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: What what kind of room brings out your best performance?
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: What type of place do you love performing at?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: I love performing, honestly.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: My like my favorite performances have been at the talk house, I think, because it's a place where I get to really like do my artist project.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: Whereas when I'm doing like cover gigs out east, which I usually am during the summers, people aren't there for the music always.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's just like a you know, it's a restaurant and then there is live music happening.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm not doing like so many originals.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um when I book gigs at the talkhouse, I get to be in my, you know, community, and a bunch of like family and friends always come out to support me.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, like so many people, like most of them are not making the trek into the city to see me play there.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_02: So, but it's like cool.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's just like like a bunch of people come out for that show, and I also get to play with my full band and like really do my vision of what I want, like my music.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm looking forward to seeing you at the uh the Sheer Sack Harbor Music Festival at Kid Squid.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: I know you've done a lot of um stuff on the stage, but also you've done a lot in the studio too.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think engineering um and other things.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: How does that like how does being behind that the the soundboard influence the way you have done your own music?
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: As I'd imagine it has to, where because you've seen certain things, how has that influenced your own production?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's interesting.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: I still feel like I'm very new to it, and like each time I go in, starting with a new song, it's like a it's like I'm doing it for the first time again.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think it is when I'm like writing a song and it's finished, I don't see much of it beyond just the guitar and vocals.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: But then when I'm in the studio, I I feel like it's funny to see how the song kind of becomes itself as like a recorded thing, just literally based on the order that I'm recording the instruments in.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I work, I've been working a lot recently with my friend Nisa, who um also she graduated with me.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: And like on my recent single, like I think the reason that song turned out the way it did was because my drummer, Anthony Genovisi, like came in and recorded drums before we even had laid anything else down for the song.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like if we hadn't just done it in that way, I'm sure it would have been a completely different arrangement.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Are you working on uh new music?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: I haven't gotten I just moved back to the city.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: I I think I'm gonna like I like I literally just moved back a couple days ago, so I have to like get into a schedule here.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: But I do have like a couple songs that I've made some uh substantial progress on, and hopefully I'll be able to like you know finish those ones up quickly, release them, and then I have a bunch of other like songs that are written that I have to start in the studio too.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: I just I want to like release a bunch of music soon.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: So hopefully being back here with my yeah friends who are producers and engineers.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'd imagine that that'll help.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Are there any like new sounds or instruments you're kind of exploring on this this upcoming stuff?
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_02: I would love to like get into more like figure out how to incorporate um synthesizers into my work in a way that feels also genuine to like my singer-songwritern-ness.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: That makes sense.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um what is is there uh something you're planning for?
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're gonna be performing at Kids Squid, uh part of the Stand Harbor Music Festival this year.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, how do you approach that set?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Is it different because you have a lot of family and friends around?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna really practice hard to do because I'm performing solo um for the set at Kid Squid.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I think I don't think it'll be that different from like my typical solo performances out east, but um I am gonna like really hone in on like a like be intentional about the set list and you know practice more than I usually would.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_02: But like beyond that, I I feel like I feel like probably not, yeah.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: No, this will be great.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: You're part of a terrific festival that's happening.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's four days of uh music all throughout the village.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: It starts on the twenty fourth of September, runs through the twenty seventh, and you're on that Saturday afternoon at the other garden lounge at Kid Squid, Nora Common.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh looking forward to the new stuff that's coming whenever you get a chance to uh to get it out there, and can't wait to see you uh see you live in a few weeks.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for your time, Nora.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate it.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Nice to get to know you.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: Uh thanks for having me.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_02: My pleasure.