Luke Walsh / Contributing Writer
Noah Stewart and his bandmates energized the crowd with their spirit and talent as he pounded away on the drums in the crisp October evening.
Stewart’s dedication to his craft was apparent as he demonstrated his skills for the people enjoying themselves at Samford’s Fall Festival.
Everybody has a passion, and Stewart’s is playing the drums.
“It’s the thing I’m best at,” said Stewart.
Noah Stewart speaks with the elegance and intelligence of a professor. He possesses the talent to skip from subject to subject knowing a respectable amount about each topic. Stewart draws you in with his warm personality and keeps you engaged with meaty topics of discussion. If you talk to him for any amount of time, you will discover his unbridled love for heavy metal, and playing the drums.
A drummer acts as the backbone of a band. “The primary job of a drummer is to hold down the beat. Every other instrument is depending on you to stay on tempo,” Stewart said.
He believes that showing off with excessive tricks and riffs is detrimental to the song because people tend to go off beat when they do that. “You need to find a happy medium between playing the same uncomplicated beat each song, and not overplaying the song to the point where you take it over,” Stewart said.
Stewart’s favorite genre of music to listen to and play is heavy metal. He believes it is a pure art form that for the most part avoids being corrupted by the superficial.
“Most of the time metal music comes straight from the heart and talks about things that make you think instead of sex and partying,” Stewart said.
The first time Stewart performed with a band was for a talent show his senior year of high school. They busted up a night full of acoustic guitar and ukulele acts with Megadeath and Metallica. Afterwards the audience lavished them with praise.
“There was an amazing feeling of togetherness with everyone there,” said Stewart
Stewart is studying to get a history degree but playing the drums are in his future.
“My dream is playing drums for a living,” Stewart said, “It would be great if lots of people could be touched by the music, but it would be important to not get lost in the temptations that come with fame.”
At the Fall Festival, Noah Stewart played with Noah Guffin on vocals and electric guitar and Forrest Moore on bass.
Will Harper is a student who witnessed the Fall Festival performance.
“I loved how genuine they were and how they played music they thought everyone would like,” Harper said.
Finlay Coupland also saw the band perform. “It was so engaging. There were so many people invested in the performance and up on their feet,” said Coupland.
Samford will see this unnamed group of musicians perform again, as they plan to have more performances on campus.
“We’re going to try out for Battle of the Bands this year if they have it, and Senator Alan Crisologo is trying to get permission for us to play on Ben Brown every couple of weeks,” Stewart said.
Guffin said, “Noah, Forrest and I are definitely going to keep jamming together and start writing some music.”
