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

Alright, Isaac thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I have been interested in Music and live music since I was a small child but I didn’t start playing Guitar with any regularity until I was about 12 or 13. I met my friend, our drummer John Nowak, in band class and we immediately starting jamming and pushing each other to get better at our instruments, We formed a band and have been playing together in groups ever since. As soon as we played our first show I was hooked, but it wasn’t until I was about to go to college that I started thinking seriously about music as a career. It took a while to get things going in College but I was able to put together a group to play with and just like in high school, as soon as we played our first show I was hooked. This band had something special that I felt immediately connected and devoted to. The day we booked our next show I knew this was the path I wanted to follow and push as hard as I could to make music and my artistic endeavors my career.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Isaac Berkowitz and I am a professional musician. I currently play as a solo artist and with my band, Desmond Jones. We are a 5 piece rock/jam outfit currently centered in Grand Rapids, however we started while the majority of us were attending college at Michigan State University. We’ve performed close to 900 shows all across the country, playing our brand of original genre bending music. We like to make show an exciting and individual experience, you’ll never see the same Desmond Jones show twice! I’m incredibly proud of this project and everyone on the team. Every member is a songwriter, performer, and business partner. We all manager to work together to make the shows great on stage and behind the scenes. We’ve managed to work our way onto major stages both headlining and in support of large national or global acts. Our product is professional, unique, and exciting. We add our own flavor of style, humor, and musical ability to create a show that is always fun.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn was that I could do everything myself. There is a lot you can do on your own but at a certain point people are there to help and their help is not only going to elevate you but the scene along with it. In my experience with the music business, there is an emphasis on DIY (do it yourself) in a lot of local scenes specifically more punk and indie movements. And I really tried to adhere to this DIY philosophy when it came booking, management, throwing events, and it took me really getting myself in too deep on some events to realize that it’s okay to bring in help and delegate jobs to those who are more adept at them which allows me to focus on what I am best at and ultimately creating a better product in the end.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

In college I was struggling to find what I should do with my life. I was taking different classes but was not terribly excited or interested. I decided to get a band together which reignited my drive and passion for music. We played a party which everyone really enjoyed and we decided to try and maybe get a “real show.” I submitted a few emails without even a real band name, any recorded music or really anything other than a “Please.” One day I was in class, having a terrible time, I received an email from a relatively large venue for the area saying “Sure, you can come play here.” Right then I knew that was what I was going to put my time and focus on. I closed my computer, left class and never looked back on being a musician.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.desmondjonesband.com/
• Instagram: @isaacberkowitzmusic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IsaacBerkowitzMusicPage

Image Credits
Nathan Purchase Adam Berta