Interview: Edward Joseph (June 17, 2013)

Who is Edward Joseph and how did you get into music?

I'm Edward Joseph, singer/songwriter from southeast Massachusetts. I was introduced to music as a child with a toy piano, took my first lessons as a trombonist in my elementary school band, began learning bass guitar and playing in bands shortly after for about ten years, then picked up guitar to start writing my own original songs just four years ago.

What are you up to at the moment?

 Most recently I've actually been taking a bit of a break from the songwriting and experimenting with learning the violin. I felt like things were slowing down with my songwriting "career" if you want to call it that, and wanted to challenge myself and also learn more about music. I do have one unreleased song that didn't make it onto the EP which I've promised my web audience I'll record and upload. I'm also constantly jamming in projects with friends which all have potential.

How would you describe your music?

Well, its most easily identifiable feature is it's all acoustic. In terms of genre, that's tricky for me to answer. I'd say, mathy acoustic pop-punk. The guitar is driven by influence of mathy "twinkly" emo bands, with the energy of punk. My vocals give it the pop quality. It's minimalistic in the sense of production. I use nothing but my guitar and voice, one track each, with only basic equalization and condensing. The reason I do that is so there is virtually no difference from my recordings and live performances. I've considered adding digital elements, even preparing performance tracks to play over with the guitar and vocals omitted, but decided it was kind of cheating, and a lot more work for not much more creative content.

What was the inspiration behind the lyrics on the EP?

"Bailing Out the Boat" is about my brief experience living in the southwest, namely Durango, CO. It was a geographical cure, I ran away from some problems but still encountered new ones. "Sense of Silence" is about a failed relationship. Same with "The Perfect Diversion," except with some commentary on my drinking habit. "Months Now" is more unrequited love. "Out To Dry" is probably my most personal song, it's very self reflective and insightful. I'm singing about my depression, hopefulness yet helplessness, life and death. It's placed appropriately at the end of the EP, and all the tracks are in the chronological order I wrote them. So I guess it's kind of symbolic of myself finishing up the few months of writing the EP took.

What's your favourite track from the EP? And why?

My favorite track is "Months Now" because not only is it the simplest to play, it's got the best melody in my opinion. The lyrical inspiration wasn't so great though.

Out To Dry is my least favorite because no matter how many times I practice it and perform it, I always mess it up at gigs.

How do you plan to expand your sound from now on? 

I'm not sure. I kind of ran out of creative energy. All of the songs on the EP are written in an alternate guitar tuning which makes it only possible to play intuitively in a few keys. There's 5 songs and 4 different capo positions. I guess it's kind of both creative/original but cheap. After a while it got hard to write songs that didn't all sound similar or have similar features. Maybe I will try and master another new tuning. That may pose problems for performing. I break enough strings as it is with one tuning. Maybe I'll drop the guitar all together if I get better at the violin and maybe join a band or orchestra.

What are your plans for the year? Do you plan to release more music before 2014?

As I mentioned earlier I have one b-side written that didn't make it to the EP. I still have yet to touch up the lyrics and record it, but I will get that done soon. I hope I'm inspired to write more this year. Playing the same 5 songs repetitively gets, well, repetitive. Still though, I'm trying to play at least one show or open mic night per week and further expand my fan base.

What bands inspire your sound?

Brave Bird, Algernon Cadwallader, Jets to Brazil, Midtown, and Saves The Day.

If Edward Joseph was a planet, what planet would he be? 

Whichever one twinkles the most!

Final words?

No matter what happens to myself as a musician, music will always be the most important thing to me after my family and friends. It's my passion, but if I can't make others feel as passionate as I do about it, then I'm not doing my work well enough. Oh, and thank you for the interview!