Joe Truscott Gets Real with Exposed Vocals: From Sea to Stage
Joe Truscott isn’t your typical alt-rock artist. A marine engineer by day and a songwriter by heart, his music is a powerful blend of grit, introspection, and raw emotion. Influenced by the likes of Arctic Monkeys and Jake Bugg, Joe writes from the perspective of the everyday working-class dreamer — capturing life’s highs, lows, and everything in between. His journey began at age 13 and took a backseat during his years at sea, but the spark never faded.
Now back on land and recharged with a new sense of purpose, Joe has returned to music with a clear vision. His latest release, In The Fight, is a motivating anthem for anyone wrestling with self-doubt while chasing their goals. We caught up with Joe to talk about his creative process, balancing dual careers, and what fans can expect from his upcoming EP and future projects.
Exposed Vocals: Your musical journey began at 13. Can you share some of the pivotal moments that shaped your path as an artist?
Joe Truscott:
The first gig I ever went to was at the same age. My dad took me to The Royal Albert Hall to watch a Teenage Cancer Trust gig featuring some of my favourite artists. It was a birthday present. Roger Daltrey from ’The Who’, Paul Weller from ’The Jam’, Kelly Jones from ’Stereophonics’, plus Stevie Winwood and Amy Macdonald all in one night. This was the first time I’d seen some of my heroes and thought that because they were now real people and I’d seen them in the flesh, that could be possible for me too.
I also saw the possibilities that could be made from my own endeavours through a school program called ’The Enterprise Challenge’. In this, we were tasked to source a product and sell as much of it as possible to raise the most amount of money for charity and they taught us valuable business skills throughout. My band and I made our own 6 track album in a free studio we found locally and burnt all our own CD’s, created our own artwork and sold the CD’s. Listening back to them now, the quality was terrible but it was definitely a process throughout which I learnt the value of putting yourself out there and just doing things you think you are incapable of. Most of the time you only hold yourself back.
Exposed Vocals: Balancing a career in marine engineering with music is unique. How has your professional life influenced your artistry?
Joe Truscott:
I suppose that because of my career, I have a very different mindset than a lot of people I meet. And this can be very frustrating but also helpful. As an engineer, I have a problem-solving brain. If there is an issue, there’s always a way to fix it. There’s not a lot that can’t be fixed. And the very nature of being in the military means I have been exposed to some highly stressful situations. So much so that some things that would get to other people and stress them out may not affect me as much. I think that’s why I can be so laid back sometimes.
A lot of the time this can lead to frustration or a clashing of heads but my relaxed approach gives me the presence of mind to understand these situations much better I think. And therefore it makes it easier to write about my experiences. Writing has always been my way of venting and dealing with my own emotions and it has helped so much with dealing with the highs and lows of military life.
Exposed Vocals: What inspired you to return to music in 2024 after a hiatus, and how has your approach evolved since then?
Joe Truscott:
2024 was the first time life got a bit normal for me since 2017. I’ve spent the rest of my career at sea on destroyers with long periods away where I couldn’t work on my music. Now I’m shore based, I’m around a lot more and I had my own space for the first time ever, I moved all my musical equipment in, started making music again, and it’s that feeling you get when you’ve made a song you like, it’s like a high.
You’re just sat on your own with your headphones on and you’re absolutely buzzing! That’s what keeps me going. In terms of evolution, I have realised that I love doing this and want to make it a bigger part of my life. I want to make a living through my music and help others to do the same. Therefore, I now try to look at my music like a business and not just a hobby. Trying to make enough content and spend enough time on every aspect of making music, whether that be writing, recording, performing, engaging, promoting/marketing. It’s kind of like a full time job outside my actual job!
Exposed Vocals: “In The Fight” carries a motivational message. What personal experiences or observations led you to write this song?
Joe Truscott:
I feel like a lot of my songs are introspective monologues to myself. A quote from Bruce Lee: “Words are energy and they cast spells, that’s why it’s called spelling. Change the way you speak about yourself, and you can change your life.”
This quote resonates with me because I do think mindset is cultivated by what is consumed. Output is always created from input (there’s the engineer in me!). So sometimes it’s good to give yourself a pep talk. And there’s so many people like me who are in a job they don’t want to be in, they have a dream and they’re trying to work towards making that dream a reality. The truth is, some days you’re working just as hard as you always have done but you feel like you’re going nowhere.
It’s for those people in those times that ‘In The Fight’ was made for. Because it’s all about finding the resilience to stay in that fight with yourself when a little voice is saying to give up. But that’s not an option.
Exposed Vocals: Can you describe your songwriting and production process for “In The Fight”? How did the song come together?
Joe Truscott:
I wrote ‘In The Fight’ like I write most of my songs; sat alone with an acoustic guitar and my notebook. It was December 2024 and I loved the song straight away so as soon as I got back to my studio after the Christmas break at my parents, I got to recording and this song took about 2 days to get down. It was the first song I used my new Gretch Electromatic G2250 on that I bought back in November.
Exposed Vocals: The alternative rock genre offers a broad palette. How do you define your sound within this genre?
Joe Truscott:
I’m usually described as a cross between Arctic Monkeys and Jake Bugg. I write songs that normal people can relate to. It feels like there’s so many people trying to relate specifically to only women or an LGBT audience at the moment and as what I’d call “An Average Joe”, (pun intended…) I feel like there’s no one that speaks for me anymore.
And that’s the voice I can provide. Catchy choruses that you can belt out at the top of your lungs or footstompers, talking about life experiences of the common working class man.
Exposed Vocals: As an independent artist, what challenges and rewards have you encountered in producing and releasing your music?
Joe Truscott:
The music is only as good as I can make it. I have no producer working with me. Most of the time I have zero outside influence for any of my songs so it’s all up to me to be creative and push my boundaries. This can be quite challenging sometimes as everyone has their own style of playing and sometimes I’m actually wanting something different.
The releasing of music is made simple using distributors like DistroKid who I use, but it’s what comes after that brings the real challenge. Promoting and marketing is where the bulk of your time has to be spent and with limited contacts, it can be hard to know how to promote your song. I get many emails from different marketing companies every week claiming they will make me the next big thing for a price, but I don’t have an endless supply of money that I can put on these people when results are certainly not guaranteed.
The reward is in the process itself. I’ve never been afraid of some hard graft and when I get a song at the end which has come from nothing but my imagination and skills, that is the reward.
Exposed Vocals: Your EP “See The World” features “In The Fight.” How does this track connect with the overall theme of the EP?
Joe Truscott:
To be honest, when I put it out, I wasn’t really thinking of an overall theme. These are just a selection of songs I’ve written that show where I was at in my life at that point. I’d been grafting all year and I needed to hype myself up a bit because it had been an exhausting year. I’d spent many months away with work in drips and drabs and every spare minute I got had been going towards making and releasing music.
That’s how I managed to release a new song every two weeks for a good while. So, I allowed myself a couple of weeks to relax over Christmas and I crashed. ‘In The Fight’ was me telling myself to get back up and carry on. Here we are in March and I’m back up and there’s plenty more going on!
Exposed Vocals: What do you hope listeners take away from your music, particularly “In The Fight”?
Joe Truscott:
I hope ‘In The Fight’ inspires anyone, even if it’s just one person, who has a dream and is putting every effort they have towards it, just like me, to keep on going. It’s for the dreamers and the believers who are gonna be someone someday. The people like me.
I want to show them that they can do whatever they want and achieve whatever they put their mind to. All of my music, like I’ve said is very introspective and it’s kind of like I’m just talking to myself when I write it in my head. But I would like to think, as some people have told me, that people resonate with the stories and the ideas that they portray and we can all take them forward and live better, happier, healthier, more meaningful lives.
Exposed Vocals: Looking ahead, what are your aspirations for your music career, and can fans anticipate any upcoming projects or performances?
Joe Truscott:
Every musician dreams of being the next best thing. Anyone who doesn’t is lying. But my goals aren’t that far in the future. Right now I am focusing on the next two/three years and in that time, I want to just make a living from music. Easier said than done!
I’m currently practicing with a new band to perform my songs live with them and not just acoustically. Getting shows booked with a band is the next big milestone but it’s proving to be a lot more difficult to get on shows as an original artist with a band. I have a new EP releasing 04.04.25 called Early Days with five new tracks.
I have multiple songs also in the works, some collaboration with some great rising talent from the Dorset area. I also have an idea for a concept album in the future. Something I’ve wanted to write since I was young about the brittleness of our society in the future when we’re all plugged into virtual reality and then we lose power, and come back to ourselves. I think it would be fun to make videos and music together so I’m looking forward to that.
I’m also starting to document the process on my YouTube channel so I’m trying to learn the video side of things while I do it. Until then I’m going to plug away and just try to get my music heard by as many people as possible.
Anyone who would like to follow my journey can head to https://linktr.ee/joe.truscott and follow me on any socials.
