Gary James' Interview With John "Noodle" Nevin
Rythm Syndicate



They're one of the hottest groups around today. They are Impact recording artists, Rythm Syndicate. Currently on tour with Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch, Rythm Syndicate's bassist John "Noodle" Nevin talked with us prior to an appearance in Syracuse, New York.

Q - John, how 's the road treating you?

A - Well, we've gotten used to being tired, no sleep, eating bad and the whole bit. So, I have withdrawal symptoms when I go home.

Q - Well, at least you're on tour, if you know what I mean.

A - Well yeah, and not only that, we're on a really good tour. Marky's a great tour.

Q - How'd you get the opening slot for Marky?

A - From what I can gather, it happened five months ago. We had done our first volley of TV shows and then went out on a little mini-tour to tighten up the show. And guess who we did them with? Mr. Marky Mark. He's a lot bigger now than he was back then. It worked out really well when they put the two groups together. On a personal level we got along famously with his musicians. They're really nice kids. He's a great guy. Most people want to hate him and I don't know why. Maybe because of his brother Donnie (New Kids On The Block). But I'm telling you, he's an A, number one guy. He's done really cool stuff like bring us out onstage just to get the audience to get another look at us. I guess the promoters or somebody stuck him with a couple of different opening acts and he didn't like 'em, so he fired 'em. From there I guess our name came up. I couldn't say that he requested our presence, but it occurred to me that his memory of us didn't hurt the situation. And we're definitely glad to be out with him. We're getting to play for a lot of people. The response is really something, I'm telling you. To me, he's got the tour of the year when it comes to this age group.

Q - How do you keep everybody in Rythm Syndicate happy with the music?

A - Well, here's how it goes. Four of the five of us have known each other since high school. And, I've worked for a couple of years on a lot of Carl and Evan's productions that they do for a lot of other artists. So, we all have a chemistry that really works. Those guys write and produce everything and they allow us to come in and we use our personality and put what we want, within their guidelines, into our parts. That right there makes us real happy. We have our humor about us and we have a good understanding of what this business is about. I would think that most people would be quite surprised at how well we deal with the rigors of the road life.

Q - What is Hip-Hop?

A - Okay, Hip-Hop is a little generic term made up for the Urban Black sound, the New Jack Swing. Sort of like the kind of beats Heavy D uses, or even the kind of beats Marky uses. I could probably sing it for you better than I could explain it. Hip-Hop mostly goes hand in hand with Rap. We have a bunch of specific names. There's New Jack Swing. There's Hip-Hop. Depending on who you're talking to you might get a different term. For me, it's an overall, general term that covers most of the Urban theme, the music part of it. Then of course you Rap over it. Then of course there's the dancing that has its own little words and names. But it's just a musical part of the Black thing right now.

Q - And what's your stage show like?

A - We play. We dance. We sing. We entertain. Evan sings his little behind off. We try to touch all the areas that we were famous for in our own right. That's like singing real songs, our songs, with real melodies, with high quality vocals. That's our personal goal. And we've added two dancers. They've got me running around. We do a quick little solo session to show people we're playing. We get the audience into it. They pay their money and we give them ever dime's worth. We have an exciting show. The response just couldn't be better.

Q - What did you do right that other bands did wrong?

A - Okay. There's a couple of things you want to look at. I certainly love little towns in America, but you cannot expect to run into and work with names in the business if you don't live in a city like New York or L.A. or some other hub of music in this country, then you better be working with someone from there. People have to understand that we've gone from being a totally obscure band before we put the record out to now we're definitely international. That happens because you work with better lawyers, mangers and labels. Those people are situated in the big, hub areas. Number one rule is, don't sit home. If there's any other rule, I would just say remember it's not going to come to you. You have to go out and get it. It may sound like the same thing, but it's not. You have to not only be in these places, but you have to remember that music is a very personal business. If you make somebody mad, they'll remember that more so than how well you played.

© Gary James. All rights reserved.

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