We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Joshua Ketchmark. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Joshua below.

Joshua, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I’ve taken many big and small risks in my life, from trying to summon the courage to cross a room and talk to someone I’m interested in to moving to different city, or performing for the first time at a ‘battle of the bands’ in front of a room full of people. Everyone takes a risk from time to time, even if it’s just something as tiny as walking out the front door. I would say the one that changed my life was moving from Nashville, TN in the early 2000’s to Los Angeles, CA. LA, and Hollywood in particular, was a place that I had longed to live since I picked up a guitar and wrote my first song. I soon realized that getting there was the easy part and that staying there would be a challenge.
Long story as short as I can make it, I got a gig playing guitar in a LA based band when I was still living in Nashville. It was comprised of a couple of friends that I had known from my hometown in Illinois, which is how I ended up on their radar. After six months of driving back and forth from the midwest to the west coast I decided that all the back and forth was getting ridiculous and this band seemed to be right around the corner from getting the all of the things that any aspiring musician/songwriter hopes for. I decided I should move.
Talks of more label showcases and touring kept circling as we played clubs around Hollywood. Then a little more or less of a year playing with that band, it imploded. I had been couch surfing from one place to another for so many months that I had lost count, even sleeping in my car from time time…which is how I spent my 29th birthday. I had been in LA just shy of six months, what now? I had left some great friends, and a great network of musicians, as well as a great paying job to move out to LA. Not even McDonald’s or Home Depot would hire me. After weeks of interviewing, I started scratching out enough of a living to put gas in my tank and eat every couple of days by running amplifiers and guitars to studio’s around the LA area for a man named Brett Allen.
After months of only working every other week, Brett gave me my first break. He sent me into Oceanway to work with Jack Joseph Puig as a guitar tech on the record he was producing. It was my first sink or swim moment, and I swam like my life depended on it.
That first day in the studio turned into regular bookings. I started working with Grammy Award winning producers like Rob Cavallo (Goo Goo Dolls/Green Day), Micheal Bienhorn (Marilyn Manson/Soungarden), Julian Raymond (Cheap Trick/Fleetwood Mac) and many more. In addition to working with artists such Melissa Etheridge, Johnny Lange, Fuel, Flashlight Brown, Kiss, Pat Benatar (I helped clean out her garage) and Michael Jackson’s music director Brad Buxer. I got to be a fly on the wall and I saw the making of big budget records. It was an education that I still draw on to this day.
Still playing in bands around town with some very talented musicians, I started getting the feeling that maybe what I needed to do with all the songs that I had been writing was to record a solo record. I did not want to be a ‘SOLO’ artist, but I wanted to have something that showcased what I had learned from all those nights in the studio on the technical side and something that could showcase the rest of what I had to offer as well including my songwriting, guitar playing and singing. So I started out bouncing from one studio to the next, recording when the studio had down time. This process lasted for a couple of years until my first release, an album called ‘List Of Regrets’ was finished. It was very well received and gained the interest of an A&R rep from Atlantic Records, as well as Kiefer Sutherlands Label, Iron Works.
Something that I had created as an attempt at a glorified business card became, “Oh, so you’re a solo artist now?” and the rest is history. I owe everything in my life to taking that risk. It didn’t turn out at all like I expected and I’ve found that most times it never does. But I wouldn’t change it.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

For those of you who have never heard of me before (which is pretty much the majority of the general population) my name is Joshua Ketchmark. I am a songwriter, producer, engineer, and a mixing engineer (when the opportunity presents itself). I grew up in Illinois in a small town two hours south of Chicago. I have also lived in Los Angeles, CA and currently I call Nashville, TN home. I am no where close to being a household name and I fly comfortably under the radar. It can be a blessing and a curse, but it affords me the time and opportunity to pick and choose who I work with and what I want to put my time into. As an independent recording artist, I wear many hats including songwriter, singer, guitar/bass player, drum programmer, producer, engineer and mixer. I manage my website and I design my merchandise. I shoot and edit my own music videos. I have always had my hands in every aspect of what I do as an artist, but these days I’m as hands on as it gets. There its always something new to learn from every situation and that keeps me inspired.
After moving to Nashville, I began working with other artists and bands and that allowed me to put my experience to use. I’ve enjoyed helping artists write and record and I’ve been fortunate to put the finishing touches on their releases. I have been told that I have a very intense work ethic and that I can be stubborn at times. I think being stubborn is what has driven me for most of my life. If the words leave my lips then I’ve made a promise that I won’t break. When working in the studio recording or producing, I’ve always been able to be very diplomatic and I’ve been told that I bring out the best in the people that I work with.

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

The lesson that took me the longest time to unlearn is that everyone makes their own way through this world. Sure, plenty of people will give you their advice no matter how successful you are, or are not. But just because something worked well for someone else doesn’t always mean that you will get the same result following those same steps. You really have to make mistakes. Make a lot of mistakes. They will help you navigate through all of the red tape and reveal what the right way is for you to go. It will also give you plenty of opportunities to learn more about yourself.
When I first moved back to Nashville, I moved back to a network of friends and musicians that I had known for years. It was great to be back in town. Each one of them had their own way of doing things that worked very well for them, but no matter how close I followed their lead, I never got the same results. It was only after going back to doing what I had done in the past, relying on my own experience, and being willing to make some mistakes and take some chances that I started to find my feet. My last release “BLOOD” in 2022 has been the most successful album I’ve ever released. I think a major reason for its success is learning that lesson and going with my gut. Trusting myself first and listening to advice, but not swallowing it whole.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist, simply put, is that I get to create something out of nothing, It’s magic. Before I sit down to write a song there is nothing there and within an hour there is a melody and words. If I’m lucky I have no idea where they came from. I just happened to be the one that day that had my antenna high enough to capture it and get it down on the page. Those are the special days, the once in a blue moon occurrences. Most times writing songs for me is a labor of love where I feel something in a particular piece of music or hear something in a lyric that just won’t let me go. It becomes all consuming and it can be a cruel mistress. But when I’m finished with it, whether it be a song or a recording that sounds just right, I get a deep sense of satisfaction from it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://joshuaketchmark.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshuaketchmark/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoshuaKetchmark
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/joshuaketchmark
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/joshuaketchmark
• Other: TIKTOK : https://tiktok.com/joshuaketchmark