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

Joey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Sometimes, as a sound engineer, the most meaningful projects won’t be your own. For me, I write and record my own stuff but frequently I’d hit a rut in the mix, and start to resent my song after hearing it back so many times. This was the case for my mixes on So Pretty, Jennifer Grey, and even YOU”VE GOT MY #. But what’s helped me learn new skills is working with new people. I’ve recorded and produced two jazz records that aren’t my own, and I’ve been helping my bandmate Joe work on his solo stuff for the last 4 years or so. Working with Joe also inspired me, which is why I have begun to feature quieter songs in my projects. Also, if you listen to both of our records when they release, you’ll hear quite the similarity in some spots.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Hi! My name is Joey. I do it all — I write, record, and mix my own projects under the moniker JOEYB. I got in to my ways back on GarageBand on my iPod touch. When I first started making music, around High School, I called myself “One Man Band”. After a while I got rid of that tacky name in favor of “Celery Salt” before finally settling on JOEYB.

In this day and age, one of the best ways to get traction as a recording artist is to convert yourself in to a multifaceted entrepreneur. You handle your own promotion, booking, releasing, and merch. As such, I’ve developed some useful video editing and graphic design skills along the way. This is also what I mean by saying “I do it all”. It stresses me out and takes a lot of time, but in the end it is almost always worth it to me.

As of right now, I have some big projects underway. After the release of my debut EP, “if i could stay,” I’m already working on my first full length studio LP, called “max.” I am also just beginning to form a band with my friends Sal from Vanity Club and Joe Wawrzyniak – the latter of whom I am also working on an album with – called “Twin Affairs”. We have our first show at Milkie’s on Elmwood in the evening hours of May 10.

since this is my first time talking about “max.”, here’s some fun facts: the record is 10 tracks, covering breakup, family loss, the awkward nature of living at home in your 20’s, and growing up among that. I’m producing it for a school project, but I won’t let that affect final release quality. And finally, I have crammed so many influences in this record. I want it to sound like you took the most exotic and unrelated ingredients in your kitchen, threw them in the blender, and that its the best thing you’ve tasted in your life. There’s blues, there’s midwest emo, there’s indie singer songwriter, there’s synths, there’s atmosphere, and above all, there’s some powerful lyrics.

The main thing I want you to take away from my work, is that I write these stories mainly from experience and they’re meant as some sort of advice. For example, if I go thru a breakup, I go thru all the emotions. When I’m done, I turn around and write about it. Then, I’m over it, I don’t care anymore but I still record and release and perform the song. But the idea that someone out there hears that song and says “this is exactly what I need right now” is exactly why I do this stuff. Music is such a powerful language that crosses all sorts of barriers, and I love communicating using it.

for my handles– check out j0eybmusic on instagram (a zero instead of an “o”, I have a WHOLE story about that :/)
joeybmusic on tiktok, and JOEYB on facebook. Also check me out wherever you get your music, I’m on spotify, apple music, amazon, youtube… most carriers!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

On a cold night in January, I played a show at Milkie’s. The theme was “Four Is A Crowd!” and I booked the show with my friends in the bands Sunburn, Prairie Pavement, and Spiria. The bands went on in that order and I headlined at the end. I play bass in Spiria, so I was ready to play some bass then get back up and lay out some guitar.

Weeks before the show, Steve, the lead guitarist for Sunburn, asked me to be his drummer. Their old drummer had to step out for medical reasons which put them in a really tough spot. I agreed, and I spent the next two weeks mastering the set, thankfully of music that they had already released.

That night in January, I played drumset, got off, got my life threatened by some jerk, which spun me up emotionally like crazy, went up and held the cowbell for Prairie Pavement’s set and danced around w them while they played their song “Rayon Sundress”, then I played bass with Spiria, and got some water in me before turning around and playing a solo set. It was EXHAUSTING. But all of the self promo I had done prior really paid off! Me and the other bands managed to bring our audiences and pack Milkie’s to the brim. I was pulled aside after the show and offered a second gig on the spot!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I would post a ton of different videos on Tiktok and Instagram. None of them stuck, except for one video where I visited the local Eastern Hills Mall and toured it before it’s closure and destruction. I made the video because one of my favorite bands, Weezer, actually has a song written specifically about that mall. The video blew up. I posted it in early January, and even in late March it gets a view and a like every few days or so. It earned me around 400 followers, which is insane!

The biggest advice I have, is be consistent. Post good quality stuff, at the same time of day, every day. In my experience, after doing a month straight, the algorithm starts to tank my stuff, so after a straight month of posting, I shifted to every few days or so, and that works out well for me. Good luck though, the monotonous computer work is BORING.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://poplme.co/iPyQgVgi/dash
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j0eybmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551047457992
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZGyjQN26hafW-SEsWivhKA
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@joeybmusic https://open.spotify.com/artist/1bpdqF4vmr80JxGKVLWnoo?si=DCbpleLBQWSs5HeAuLuQfQ https://music.apple.com/us/artist/joeyb/1699107109