We were lucky to catch up with Josh Cleveland recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Josh, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

My bandmates and I just finished a recording project that has been years in the making. This project means so much to me because it’s the first time, from start to finish, that I have had to struggle through the process. Not only choosing which songs we were going to record, but funding the project, marketing, the recording process as a whole, and then finding a venue and date to release and celebrate. It’s all been a struggle.
But, we made it through.

I was not expecting the recording process to be such a journey. This is the first time that I have had to tear a song down to the studs and rebuild into something that resonates with me and us as a band. There were days when I was driving home from the studio thinking, “maybe, this album won’t ever exist. Shoot, maybe this is the end of my days as an artist.” It was intense and important to go through.

Josh, 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 have been writing and performing music for the past 25 years. I spent a lot of the early days flying solo. I would play anywhere that would have me… or at least anywhere that would call me back and let me beg to play. I wrote songs I thought others would want to hear and for awhile, that seemed to work okay. But the problem was, most of the original songs I wrote didn’t resonate with me. I was trying to write with someone else in mind. I was trying to meet some elusive expectation and I found myself floundering a bit. Floundering as an artist, as a songwriter, but also as a person. What was I doing this all for?

I realized that the songs I was writing needed to come from somewhere deeper. Somewhere that connected with me first, as selfish as that sounds. But, I figured if I don’t resonate with it, how can I perform it in a genuine way that someone else would? That began a whole new journey of songwriting for me. My last project was filled with very personal songs. It wasn’t therapy necessarily, but there was a healthy measure of catharsis that ran through each of those old tunes. It was a great learning experience to write songs that meant something to me and thankfully see them connect to other people. However, these songs, because they were so personal and came from a lot of deep dark places, they were exhausting to perform.

This new project had to ride a balance of genuine, but not deepest darkest secret. Plus, I had a new band that had their own thoughts about these tunes and how they should sound and feel. It was time to go to work in a whole new way to bring out a new set of tunes that were resonant with all of us and a good representation of me as well. Plus, they needed to have some good tempo. Some of my nieces wouldn’t listen to my old record because it was too sad.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

The resource I have used the most in the new project was a book by Rick Rubin entitled, The Creative Act: A Way of Being. It ended up fueling how I and my bandmates went about recording and working through these new songs. The way he puts things in such simple yet profound vignettes of creativity, inspired me almost every step of the way. He really helped me answer the question: What am I doing this for? The answer… because I can’t not do it. I have to write, I have to create. If someone else connects to it, awesome.

The sentiments from Rubin’s book also helped me to let go of somethings that were holding me hostage. The idea that a song has to be perfect before it’s released was one of the main ones. If a song has a perfect version, then that means eventually it becomes static. I learned to love that a better version might be out there someday, but for now what we have is pretty kick-butt, so let put it in the can and move on to the next.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My mission now is to create songs that resonate with me and help me move forward. Whether that is in the evolution of my own writing style or move forward past an old way of thinking, past mistake, or something that may be keeping me static. If I can do that, then I know there are others who will benefit from that song. Whether it’s the instrumentation, the lyric, the vocal performance or anything in between; If I’m intentional about what I’m creating, there is a way better chance someone else will connect with it in their own way. And hopefully on a deep level.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://joshcleveland.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshclevelandmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshclevelandmusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@joshuacleveland9387
• Other: Bandcamp

  https://joshcleveland.bandcamp.com/album/prove-the-sound