Today is a great day to share the latest music video from Wormy, the moniker of New York-based songwriter Noah Rauchwerk, called “27 Days.” On this vibrant single from Wormy, Rauchwerk showcases the vulnerable side of his music, paired with great songwriting. If you’re enjoying the video, please consider pre-saving his new LP, Shark River, here.
The track was written about a short lived relationship you had while far away from home, which ties into some themes you explore on your upcoming album. How do you handle balancing your home life with your touring life?
This is something that I’m continually working on. It’s really easy to get stuck in whatever mode you’re in. Like if I’m on the road, it feels like that’s all that exists and when I’m home it feels like I’ll never leave again. Now that I’ve been touring consistently for about 7 years I’ve made a lot more effort to maintain my home life with a bit more stability. It seems really simple but just making an effort to call people back and answer texts has been something I’ve had to adamantly work on. Just constantly reminding myself that here’s a world outside of the tour bus, the hotels, the vans, and the venues. Luckily I tour with some of my best best friends and I’ve had some of the most joyous moments of my life on tour so it makes it easier to feel like the road is home.
What’s the writing process like for you? As a touring musician, it seems like it would be long stretches of time on the road coupled with a lot of downtime. Does that dichotomy make it harder or easier to write?
Writing isn’t really a constant practice for me, which is something I want to work on. It’s usually the case that I get really overwhelmed with a feeling, or some really big change happens and I just have to get that energy out. I’d say traveling so much gives me so many new experiences daily to write about, like meeting new people, or going to a place I’ve never been. The interesting and kind of unexpected thing is that there’s a ton of downtime on the road, sitting in different places, just waiting for things to happen. And I’m always trying to be productive in those times, but it’s really hard to get anything done in a green room or in your bunk on the bus or in a seat in the van. So usually things stack up and by the time I get home, I have so many things to catch up on and so many more things to write about.
What were some sonic influences that went into the track?
Renny Conti produced this one and a lot of tracks on the album. The arrangement of this song really started with the drum part. I was really into learning linear drum fills (not playing any two things at the same time) and the part was born from that. There’s sort of a “pinball sounds” solo that was Renny’s idea that became such a core and crucial part of the song to me. We also really thought it would be interesting to have a bass solo on a song where a bass solo wouldn’t normally fit. So we let Ned Steves do his thing with that and I love it a lot. JR Atkins shaped my super simple guitar part into something really engaging and interesting. I was listening to a lot of Fust and Hovvdy when we recorded these so I was heavily influenced by their production elements as well.