Winding road through the music industry leads family to Clayton

By RANDY CAPPS

CLAYTON — Walking into the Clayton School of Creative Arts serves up a bevy of surprises. From the game room in back to the stage and bar in front, the space runs the gamut from pool hall to bar.

It’s a fun and unique vibe for a school that offers art programs and summer camps — and a fitting one for its music programs.

Tucked just to the right of the side entrance is a recording studio, complete with recording equipment and just the right sort of acoustics. It’s the home of Copper Still Recorder, the brainchild of Noel White.

White, an Annapolis, Maryland, native who moved to Flowers Plantation with his family a little over two years ago, is a musician who has played the drums with acts like Underfoot, Art Garfunkel and Marcy’s Playground, to name a few.

Through his time as a performer, and a bit of good luck, he was able to work as a drum technician for the likes of Herbie Hancock and Sting, touring the world and rubbing elbows with giants of the music industry.

So, how did a guy who’s that plugged in to the music scene wind up in Johnston County?

“My wife had a friend move down here about six years ago, and every time I’d go on tour with Sting, she would come down here and visit,” he said. “Because I’d be gone for three or four months at a time. ... So that’s how the Clayton thing came up. And I went to Elon, so when my wife said, ‘How do you feel about moving to North Carolina?’

Our second kid was on the way, and we knew we wanted to upgrade. ... I was cool with North Carolina, and I knew Raleigh was a nice city and we wouldn’t be far from it at all. It was a no-brainer.”

His journey through the world of music led him here, and also led him to his wife, Jennifer Van Meter, who, one might guess, is also a musician. He worked with her on her first three albums, and the two of them wound up together.

“We moved in together, got Ruckus the Winding road through the music industry leads family to Clayton dog and the rest was history,” he said.

Since then, Kate, 5, and Gus, 3, have joined the family band.

“Both of their middle names are Van,” he said. “So, we call them the Van Whites.”

Gus and Kate are a big part of the reason White decided to get off the road.

“When you’re young enough, and your kids are young enough, you can get away with doing it,” he said, of the demanding travel schedule. “I got off the tour in 2019 and started a job with Harmon, who owns JBL and a bunch of other sound companies out of L.A. So that was a dream come true. I’m going to finally get off tour, but still travel a bit. Because Sting would have me on the road for three months, home for a week, then three months again. It was just too much.

“My friends were like, ‘You got off the road just in time.’ Because we knew the first thing that would go (because of COVID) would be tours. We didn’t escape it, either, because by June of last year, they laid all the JBL Pro team off. It just had so much tied into concert sound. “That led me to a lot of sitting around with a lot of time on my hands. And I met Tom.”

Tom is Tom Hutchison, the owner of the Cary School of Creative Arts and its counterpart in Clayton.

“(Tom) was like, ‘I’ve got this one section of the school,’” he said. “He said, ‘Go ahead and take this spot if you want it.’ I was a little leery, because I’ve always had secluded spots for my studios. This is my third studio. I thought, ‘What is it going to be like having a studio in the middle of a school?’ But it turns out it’s only loud from, like 2-7.”

Having a recording studio in the heart of downtown Clayton has worked out pretty well for White so far.

“People don’t mind the 20-minute drive,” he said. “They also like the fact that Manning’s is right across the street. You can get a killer bowl of gumbo or get a $2 cheeseburger at Jones.’ And the new place going in across the street, that’s going to be awesome, too. People love the fact that they can come here and go across the street and get some beers if they need to. You either want to be secluded, or not. I love the outdoors and studios out in the middle of nowhere in a barn, but you better bring everything you need.

“We’re just so happy to be here in Clayton. The town has been so incredibly welcoming to my wife and I. It touches me how much they have.”

“I couldn’t have met this guy in a million years if I went looking for him,” Hutchison said. “For him to end up in Clayton has to be some part of a greater plan. Just getting to know him and his professionalism, and what he brings to the area and local musicians, he is just such a great asset to the community. I’m privileged that he wants to be here with us.”

Copper Still Recorder is getting a little more busy these days as we emerge from the pandemic. Duck, a Raleigh-based band, is planning to record its next album in Clayton this summer, and they’ll be the latest in a long list of acts with which White has worked — a list that includes Sean Lennon, The National, Dawes and many more.

“There’s no magic in how I place microphones,” he said of his work in the studio. “Fifty percent of what I do is emotional nurturing. Making people feel comfortable so they can express their art is no easy thing to do. They really have to trust the person they’re with.”

When your resume includes working as a drum tech for world-renowned artists like Vinnie Colaiuta (“one of the greats on the planet”) and Josh Freese (“been on every pop record made, pretty much”), the bonds of trust are formed a little more easily.

And it could have just as easily not happened at all. In 2000, White and his band, Underfoot, were receiving attention from record labels. Then Napster, Lime Wire and others came along and shook the industry to its core with the ability to share music for free on the internet.

Record companies, unsure what the future might bring, became much more hesitant to sign artists. That left White at a crossroads.

“I could be selling life insurance,” he said. “I met a guy named Gary Hurstius, who was originally from Annapolis, and he saw me struggling with the ‘There’s no money in music thing.’ He said, ‘You can make money being a tech. Good money, and you can tour the world. Because the odds of finding work as a tech are a lot better than being in the band.”

Being a drummer himself, White knows what the equipment should sound like, when heads should be replaced and how to make the setup ideal for the performers on stage.

“I’d rather be Sting’s tech than the drummer in 70% of bands touring,” he said. “Because we’re playing the Acropolis, ancient theatres, everywhere you’d expect to see Sting play. With Herbie, it’s the same kind of thing. Because they’re so revered in Europe. We do American tours, but when we get over to Europe, it’s a whole other ballgame.

“The techs have to make sure everything is perfect every day. To people who don’t know, I compare us to being like caddies. I take care of their stuff. I mix what they hear, and even if I’m not mixing it, I have to communicate with the monitor technician exactly what the band wants. Because, when the artists get there, there’s no time. ... You’re basically driving the car before Mario Andretti shows up.”

It’s a tough transition for some, especially those who have dreamed of life in the spotlight. White, however, has a more mature approach.

“I checked my ego at the door,” he said. “Some guys can’t ever get past it, but when you’re working for your heroes? Vinnie Colaiuta? I can’t believe he’s my friend now.”

And every now and then out on the road, strange things happen. One night in Budapest in 2018, in front of 70,000 fans, White filled in for Freese for a set with Sting and Shaggy.

“Understudy isn’t the right word, but ... I did the three-hour gig,” he said. “Sting was like, ‘You’re the only other drummer in the world who knows this whole three hours of music because you’ve seen it 300 times at this point.’ So, he’d rather have me at 70% of the technical ability of these other guys — and that’s being generous — than to have a guy come in cold.”

There’s a Facebook video from the day of the show where Sting makes a point to come in and praise White’s willingness to step in. Apparently, that’s just the kind of guy the rock icon is.

“He’s exactly what you’d expect him to be,” he said. “He’s a gentleman. He’s one of the smartest human beings I’ve ever met in my life. Intense. Funny. Uses very few words, but when he does, they’re always completely poignant. And very kind. And Herbie? Same exact thing. A beautiful gentleman. Two incredibly nice people.”

It’s just the sort of feeling one gets inside the walls of Copper Still Recorder.

To learn more about the studio, search Noel Scott White on Facebook or email him at noelswhite@gmail.com.