We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joe Weinstock a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Joe, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your creative career?

There was one very valuable moment I learnt from a friend, which really changed the way I thought about spreading helpfulness and some kindness. When I was in my early 20’s, I was playing a gig with a friend of mine, and I honestly felt way out of my depth at the time, as a musician and playing guitar in a music festival which was for a genre of music I didn’t know too much about.

We arrived very early (before even any music equipment was set up) and when the sound guys arrived to do just that, my friend suggested we should offer to help them unload the massive PA from the truck and help them out. Previously I would have probably left this up to the professionals they were to do this, but they gladly welcomed our help and were probably surprised we even asked.

We did something useful for someone else, learnt a few new things in the process and in turn, they were really grateful and offered us support and help that day too (and to look after our equipment in a big venue. – I was worried about leaving it all for too long, and maybe never seeing it again).

This may not seem like anything enormous, but it has stuck with me as a valuable lesson in helping others, which helped shape the way I looked at things from that point onwards.

Joe, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started playing guitar when I was about 12 years old and had a strong interest in Blues music from my Dad. During the 1990’s and 2000’s, the Alternative Rock and Grunge bands really captured me, and I think the music I choose to write is a mixture of both of those worlds.

From there, over the years I joined bands and formed others and really tried to follow the path of maintaining a strong band, rehearsing frequently, gigging, and recording. Music was my life and main focus for all that time.

Through the ups and downs of those years, I really became interested in recording my own music, and in turn, learning music production, initially to a degree I could be happy just releasing my own music. I think there is always something to learn about music production and it never really ends.. I can always find some things to learn or improve on, but over time this has lead to producing for other artists, collaborating and writing with other musicians, and also into composing for Film/TV.

Having done and tried so many things during the time of being a musician, I really feel at home composing and producing music for film. I think I have always known this is what I need to be doing with music, but finding the opportunities and also believing I actually could, were things that are always a bit of a challenge, but it is hugely rewarding.

Making music for me is all about emotion – either releasing it into music for myself, or doing it to allow a listener to feel something. This is also really important in film music and I do enjoy the challenge of always writing with this as a core element.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think the willingness / enthusiasm and interest to discover new and interesting music, that is outside of the mainstream releases/charts, is a huge driver in making that kind of change. It is more accessible than ever to be able to make and release your own music these days, and because of that, there are some great artists and bands out there, and these days we have to work a bit harder to find them, but they definitely are there!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, it is the process of creating something from an idea to an end product, and to be able to do that in a self-sufficient way. Music is the best way for me to output thoughts or feelings, and the thought of being able to create a song or piece of music directly from some particular emotion, event or experience, and then have it exist in the world forever, is pretty magical!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alphawaveaudiolabs.com/about-us
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/minuscube/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-weinstock-743b8b353/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MinusCube
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/minuscube
• Other: https://minuscube.bandcamp.com/