Who’s in the band, when did you start, what was your motivation to start this band?
Joshua's Song is Ivo on drums, Hans on bass, Lennart on guitar and I play guitar and sing. My motivation to start the band was just the fact that I wanted to continue what I was trying to reach with Justice. And by that I mean I want to write those songs that are totally 100% an extension of my personality, I am searching for a certain vibe or sound that is totally my own. I'm not saying that what I'm writing is super original, but I want it to be all mine in essence. Also, I'm doing Joshua's Song because I love playing and especially writing music. It's challenging and sort of frustrating a lot, but it teaches me stuff, and also when I see someone else doing something cool, I get jealous and I'm like, "I want to be able to do that".
It seems as if you guys don’t get to play a lot of shows. How many have you played so far? How have the reactions been?
We've played 4 shows so far and reactions have been kind of luke-warm up until now. But that's ok, we still have a long way to go before we reach our full potential I think. We need to put out an official release which will happen soon, that'll get us more shows, which will in turn make us a better band because of the experience we get from playing out more. Me and Sike have been playing a lot together but Ivo and Lennart have just been playing with us since the start of Joshua’s Song. Once we find each on a musical level I promise you we'll turn heads.
Seeing that you don’t play out a lot, do you guys rehearse and write new songs frequently?
We practice weekly and we're always working on new stuff. We did that demo that we finished in September and then we went in the studio to record two new songs this December and last Saturday we played two other new songs for the first time. We're working hard on the band and up until now it's always been behind the screens but the ball will start rolling at some point and I'm very much looking forward to that.
Why did you mix the demo in Wilkes-Barre, PA, USA?
Well, on that demo we recorded everything ourselves expect for drums and bass, which we did in a studio. So we needed someone to mix all of our recordings but we didn't really know anyone who would be able to do a good job at a low price. So I called up Alex Russin to ask him if he could hook us up with someone in the US. This was in August and we had a trip planned in September anyway so it made sense sort of. Alex has this guy in Wilkes-Barre he records a lot of demos for Cold World with and all the Wilkes-Barre hardcore bands go there to record so that was perfect. Alex put us in touch with Joe Loftus who turned out to be the perfect guy for the job. He definitely got the most out of those recordings and it ended up actually sounding cool. Thanks Alex and thanks Joe.
Any new releases planned?
Those two songs we recorded in December need to be mastered and they'll be released soon. We're talking to some labels right now and nothing is final yet but those two songs will definitely be our first EP and they will be out before the summer.
What do you want to accomplish with Joshua’s Song?
I want to write the perfect album or at least the perfect song according to my own standards. That's my main goal. Besides that I want Joshua’s Song to be playing crazy shows in small but packed venues. I don't know which one is harder to accomplish, ha. There was a time when our goal was playing Lintfabriek (RIP), too bad that's not a possibility anymore.
No-budget video I did for Joshua's Song over a 24-hour time period, from the shooting to the editing
Your band e-mail address is Beefsteak To Mistake and you’re called Joshua’s Song, yet you don’t sound like Bad Brains at all. Why did you choose the band name and e-mail address? Do you want people to think you sound like the Bad Brains? What do you think the band sounds like?
Well I think the Bad Brains are the greatest band of all time, like we all do of course. The band name I chose because I like the lyrics of that song a lot and it fits the vibe I want to give my band. But then I tried to register joshuassong@gmail.com but that was already taken, so me and Filip took out the Quickness lyric sheet and looked for something that we could use for our email address. I don't know what ‘beefsteak to mistake’ actually means, but it sounded weird enough in a cool way. We're not trying to sound exactly like the Bad Brains in terms of music but I mean, it's hard to write music and not be influenced by the bands you love the most. I think it's safe to say that we sound like a lot of bands from the ‘90s?
I think you could say that Joshua’s Song is, no matter how lame it sounds, a post-hardcore band. Do you agree? Why do(n’t) you think so? Have you grown out of hardcore? Are you jaded?
Yes, Joshua’s Song is by definition a post-hardcore band, we were all in hardcore bands before and now we're slowing down our songs more and we're adding some melody and what not. But that doesn't mean I don't like hardcore anymore, I just don't have it in me to play in a hardcore band anymore, it wouldn't even sound right. It would sound forced and not real I think. I need to see some 18 year olds covering Straight Ahead like they're everyone, everywhere tearing this place down. Would mosh.
Anything left to add?
Thanks for the interview, blogs are the digital museums of post-hardcore, check out joshuassong.tumblr.com, check out Title Fight from Kingston PA, shout outs to pitting together for Floorpunch and all you kids out there, always keep the faith.
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