From Fan to Part of the Band : Gary Noon and Walking With Giants

Gary Noon is living every music fan's dream. Not only is he good friends with some of his favorite musicians but he also worked on an entire album with them. Walking With Giants is a group formed by guitarist and singer Gary Noon who got to work this past summer with Sevendust members Morgan Rose and Clint Lowery and Alter Bridge bassist Brian Marshall. Noon had originally planned to start a tribute band, honoring two of his favorite bands Sevendust and Alter Bridge, but once he was introduced to Clint Lowery after a Sevendust show the plan had shifted directions. That ultimately led to the Walking With Giants EP which was released in 2013, featuring Alter Bridge’s Scott Phillips on drums. The band’s first full-length album titled Worlds Unknown hit the shelves January 15, 2016, but you can order the CD by visiting the band's website (see social media links below).

Can you explain to me how the Worlds Unknown came to be? It’s got a pretty killer line up.

It’s actually a culmination of two and a half years of stuff. I started back in 2012 and I had some great guys on the first EP, and on the second one, we brought in Brian Marshall. The third one was going to be another EP but halfway through it, it was extended into a full-length album. But this album really came over a long period of time. I started doing YouTube covers, which is actually kind of funny. That was way back in 2008 and I kind of built a following I suppose. And one day a buddy of mine introduced me to Clint backstage and I showed him my guitar covers, especially the Sevendust ones, and we hit it off. We had a really good friendship and we maintained contact over the years and then I got introduced to Brian and the other guys- and it all kinda worked its way out when I asked them to be part of it.

Would you consider this to be a band or a project?

This is a project. Walking With Giants is me and anybody I’m able to work with comes alongside me. Most of the guys are on our studio team but when we go to perform live we’ll have a different lineup.

Are you planning to do live dates and tour with this?

Yeah, we’re planning to do some weekend dates for this starting up in the late spring and then we’ll build up to a tour. You know, for now, we want to get established and provide a great show before we start going out on the road and that kind of thing. That’s the goal, though, to eventually take this out for a tour.

So, you mentioned that prior to this you were doing some YouTube covers- other than that were you doing anything else musically?

Yeah! So I’ve been playing guitar since I was 17 but that was, you know, like 1988. But I was playing through high school and I was the guitarist in our church orchestra for like ten years which was basically sitting in front of 2,500 people at a service type thing. I’ve never toured with those bands or anything but I played the equivalent with church services if that makes sense. That’s really how I started and everything, it was a hobby and then I started playing some tunes on YouTube and one thing led to another.

What were some of your musical influences when you were just starting out?

Growing up, through my high school years, my influences were pretty straight forward. Metallica, Queensryche, and Stryper- those were the bands I completely revolved around. I listen to Iron Maiden too, but not as much as those three bands.

How would you describe the album to those who haven’t heard it yet?

The new record is different, you know? A lot of people see the names of the guys who are with me and they think ‘oh, this is gonna sound like Sevendust’ or ‘oh, this is gonna sound like Alter Bridge but when they hear it they go ‘wow, this is different!’. And that’s what I want; I want people to think that. In my opinion, it’s a fresh, positive rock album. It’s hard hitting stuff, it’s different than what you hear out there. There’s too much negative and angry stuff, and that’s never been my kinda thing.

Did you write it with the purpose of it being different and something people may not have heard before?

I didn’t really have an intent behind why I wanted to write it but I just wanted to write songs- you know it goes back to the feeling that when you hear Sevendust and see them on stages they have an emotional type of power that comes with them. Whether it’s an angry type song or some of the ballady type of stuff they do- and Alter Bridge is the same way. And so that kinda stuff is what I wanted to write, that kind of music. Somebody hears it and it gives them something to feel, something really powerful so they don’t get sick of it. I listen to those band’s music all the time and I never get tired for that very reason. So that’s really what I wanted to do and the record, the lyrics, and the meaning behind the songs, just kind of develops that.

Where do you want this album to go? Are you planning on doing more albums following this one?

Yeah! I think if we can build a following with this, that’ll start the process. It’s all financing right now, too. When you buy the CD that’s me, that’s Gary Noon. I package them, I ship them out and all that stuff. And the goal is that more people will start buying the discs and buying it on iTunes and that’ll allow us to keep doing it. I would love to do another but at some point the cash is gonna run out! So we’ll just have to see what happens.

Wait- what label was this released under?

It was my own label. It’s just Walking With Giants. All the CD’s are distributed by me and the rest is all online.

Did you guys do any videos for it?

Yeah, we did! We’ve got one for the first single called ‘Different Voice’ which is more of a lyric video and for ‘Heavy Hands’ we put together kind of a visual documentary of what it was like to record the songs together. And I tried to show the fun and excitement of us doing it, which honestly there was a lot of us trying to figure out what to use and what not to use. So we have the lyric video out now and then eight documentary videos.

And where can you see the documentary videos?

If you go to www.wwgiants.com and click on the media, then you’ll be able to see photos and all the documentary chapters there.