Up Close and Personal with Josh Taerk

So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

I grew up in Toronto, Canada and was brought up on music. From as early on as I can remember, family time meant hanging out, listening to my parents’ favorite records and enjoying each other’s company.

When I was younger I was into Backstreet Boys & Nsync. I thought that if I ever got into the music business it would be singing in a boy band. However, I had this friend that had long rocker hair, wore Nirvana and Zeppelin T-Shirts, and we would bug each other about the music we were listening to. One night, he asked me to come see his friend’s band play. As soon as that band started playing “Shook Me All Night Long” by AC/DC, I was hooked!

So, I started taking guitar lessons, grew out my hair, traded in my tear-away pants for ripped jeans, and was getting pretty good. I got to a point where I knew several songs that I could play confidently on the guitar and would spend my free time at camp playing them. One day, this really pretty girl sat down next to me and asked what I was playing. I told her that I was playing “Wonderwall,” and she said, “I love that song! Could you sing it for me?” Now, I’d been learning how to play guitar but other than in my shower I hadn’t been doing tons of singing, but you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take and she was really really pretty. So, I started the song over and when I was done she smiled and said, “you didn’t tell me you were a singer.” I’ve never looked back.

Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

You have to believe in the project that you’re involved in and you have to believe in yourself in order to be successful. There are going to be more no’s then there will be yeses especially when you are starting out, but you decide how long that no is going to stop your progress and decide how much faith you have in your own vision. The Beatles were turned down by every major label in The UK before they were signed by Parlophone which wasn’t even a music based label. George Martin did comedy records and I think symphony stuff but had never recorded a pop band before he met George, John, Ringo and Paul.

Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

Live performance is live by nature and stuff is going to happen because it’s live. What matters isn’t the mistake, it’s how you carry on with your show. If it’s something minor and you play it off like it was nothing, or even like it was meant to happen, chances are 99% of people won’t notice.

If something major happens, the best thing to do is address it, make a joke of it, be honest about what happened by talking to the audience. They will feel closer to you for it because it makes you human. If you can hone how to take those situations and turn them intimate moments with your audience they will love you even more than they do now.

Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?

I love going out on the road, visiting different cities and playing for different audiences every night. If you’re lucky enough to be out on the road with people you enjoy spending time with, it creates this incredible bond and makes for an awesome show.

For example, we found out during one of our rehearsals that collectively we all love the movie That Thing You Do written by Tom Hanks, and we spent the rest of the rehearsal quoting lines from the movie and making each other keel over with laughter doing so. Fast forward to the last show we’re playing and we’re about to launch into the last song. I introduce the band and get to my drummer Brian. I decide to introduce him as Brian “Spartacus” Pruitt, like the drummer in That Thing You Do. The band broke into hysterical laughter. The audience saw that we were having fun, started laughing themselves and whether they got the joke or not, they felt a part of this awesome time we were having onstage. For all you fans of the move, it was “so wicked!”

Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

I tend to invest in gear that allows me to get the clearest acoustic demos / live show recordings as possible.

One of the apps I am loving right now is called PCMRecMKII by TASCAM for IOS. It takes high quality recordings right from your phone and converts them into WAV files that you can then export from the app. It allows you to adjust mic sensitivity, has a built-in EQ adjustment, built in limiter, and allows you to upload your stuff right to SoundCloud if you want. It’s an awesome app for quick and dirty recording.

How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

The great thing about the music business today is that there are so many ways to get your music out, and so many opportunities to promote your music through social media. Success in advertising your music, videos, etc really comes down to finding your own voice and then reaching out and connecting with the people that responds to what you’re doing.

If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

My dad is a huge Springsteen fan and got me hooked on the Boss. I remember being mesmerized by his stage presence, the way that he felt every single song he performed. I knew that was what I wanted to do, that was the kind of artist and performer I wanted to be. Then I became good friends with E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg, and realized what incredible people the members of The E Street Band were as well.

It would be a dream come true to be able to play at The Rogers Centre, in my hometown being joined onstage by Max, Bruce and the rest of the E Street Band. It would be another great moment in my career that I’d get to share with Max.

So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

I just released a new single called “Learning To Let Go” I wrote with my producer Teddy Morgan. I’ve also just done a bunch of videos while in Nashville this summer, one of which we released at the end of July. I did a cover of Rita Ora’s “Your Song” that you can check out on Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube.

If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

I think I would be a teacher because I love the idea of helping someone else get from where they are to where they want to go by sharing my knowledge with them. Being able to help someone expand their world view or figure something out they wouldn’t have before. It’s all about communicating and sharing experiences, two of the things I fell in love with about music.

What should fans look forward to in the next year or so?

I’m always writing, always finding more opportunities to perform my music live and come back and visit them. So, aside from all the stuff I talked about above, make sure you look out for new tour dates and more music in the coming year.