04 Mar ‘TAKING IT ALL IN’ WITH JOSH TEED [EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW]

Josh Teed is a multi-instrumentalist and producer who adds multiple instruments to his live sets! I caught up with him in Chicago on this 3rd stop on his third-ever headlining nationwide Taking It All In Tour to discuss the inspiration behind the newest singles, his background, and more.

LET’S START BY HAVING YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELF AND TELL OUR READERS A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHO JOSH TEED IS.

 My name is Josh Teed; I make electronic music with a lot of instrumentation. I play violin, some keys, a little bit of drums, and I play a handful of other things as well. You will see this on my Taking It All In tour this month.

SO YOU’RE A MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST! ONE OF THE INSTRUMENTS YOU FEATURE IN YOUR SETS ALL THE TIME IS THE VIOLIN! YOU’VE BEEN PLAYING THE VIOLIN THE LONGEST, CORRECT? AND WHEN DID YOU START THAT?

I have been playing the violin since I was three or four. My mom’s a violin teacher, and that was kind of the first thing she wanted me to do. She inspired me to get into the music world. But my original career was going to be in something other than music.

INTERESTING! THEN HOW DID YOUR JOURNEY END UP IN MUSIC?

Around 2017/2018, I went to a music festival called Psychedelic Sleepover in New Hampshire and saw an artist called Govinda play. He’s an amazing violinist who works it into his set and music. I saw the Emancipator Ensemble play that weekend, too, so I got a couple of different tastes of what you could do with the violin in this kind of setting, and it gave me a lot of inspiration to add instruments to EDM.

THAT IS REALLY COOL, AND IT DEFINITELY SHOWS THAT EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON. WE HAVE DEFINITELY SEEN A TREND IN ARTISTS USING LIVE INSTRUMENTS IN THEIR SETS – HOW DO YOU STAND OUT IN THIS INDUSTRY?

I find ways to incorporate different harmonies within the tracks that I’m doing. I’ll record the violin in a track and then harmonize it with what I’ve already recorded in the live setting, which adds some more layers to it. 

VERY COOL! I AM VERY EXCITED TO SEE ALL OF THIS COME TO LIFE IN THE SHOW. ASIDE FROM THE VIOLIN, ARE YOU PLAYING ANY OTHER INSTRUMENTS?

Yeah, I’m playing keys and a drum pad tonight.

WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR MUSICAL INSPIRATIONS?

I like FKJ a lot and Tash Sultana. I also really love CloZee, Dirt Wire, and Cohen Sound, and I toured with all 3 of those artists last year! They are all amazing and do cool things with melody, instruments, and music. So, they are a big inspiration for me.

SINCE MUSIC WAS NOT NECESSARILY ON YOUR INITIAL CAREER TRAJECTORY. SO, HOW DID YOU LEARN HOW TO DJ? AND WHAT WERE SOME OF THE RESOURCES YOU USED?

Honestly? YouTube!

YouTube was the best teacher that I could have possibly had. For all the production stuff that I learned, it was YouTube. I took a handful of lessons. I took a lesson with Tabu, and I took a lesson with Kyoto. They’re both really knowledgeable about what they do, but what they do is different from what I do. So, the majority of the knowledge that I apply, I just learned from the internet or from just messing around.

WOW! THAT’S REALLY COOL. SO THE REASON WE ARE ALL HERE IS YOUR TAKE IT ALL IN TOUR. THE EP COMES OUT THIS WEEK! SUPER EXCITING! I’M VERY EXCITED TO HEAR IT. AND WE’VE GOT TWO SINGLES, ‘ JUST BREATHE’ AND ‘WILDFIRE.’ TELL ME ABOUT THEM AND WHAT THE INSPIRATION WAS BEHIND THEM.

For ‘Just Breathe,’ I’ve been listening to another inspiration of mine, Jerry Folk, for a long time. He’s a vibe, and I wanted to write something up that alley. 

But it’s inspired by just how life is always a rush and how we don’t really take a second to, you know, ‘Just Breathe’ and relax. We have to take things in that’s around us. So that was an inspiration in that one.

FOR ‘JUST BREATHE,’ YOU COLLABORATED WITH CHUUWEE & BLŪM. WHAT WAS THE COLLABORATION PROCESS LIKE?

Chuuwee has been one of my favorite rappers since high school. I saw him post something about half-priced features months and months ago. I was like, ‘Yep! Empty out my savings, no problem! But it was totally worth it. But he finished his verse the same day I sent it to him, which is crazy! And it was some of the favorite bars I’d ever heard in a rap song. Honestly, I resonate with them so hard.

Blūm is my old roommate and is a fantastic musician. She’s an excellent pianist and guitarist and was looking for something to fill the track out. She jumped in and sang the bridge, and completed it. We went through a couple of different iterations of it together. She did a lot of vocal comping and putting together multiple layers. So, we played around with that a little bit. 

FOR ‘WILDFIRE,’ YOU COLLABORATED WITH SKYE SILANSKY. HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT?

Skye and I missed the same flight out of Boston two years ago. We were stuck in the airport, just hanging out, and started chatting about music stuff, and then we came to find out she’s a singer, and a heck of a singer at that! I knew I needed one more tune to tie the EP all together and thought I could use some vocals. I hit her up, and she was really into the idea.

We’ve since made a handful of tunes together and are excited to see what else we can work on

‘JUST BREATHE’ WAS THE FIRST SINGLE YOU RELEASED. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THAT ONE?

This one was the most different from anything that I’ve put out before. And I’ve pushed this EP as being very different from the status quo of what I’ve put out to date. 

This one really embodied it, and I wanted to give people a taste of that, and it was going to be a lot different.  

WILL WE HEAR MORE SINGLES FROM THE EP BEFORE IT’S RELEASED ON MARCH 7TH?

Nope! You will have to wait and hear later this week.

FINE! I CAN WAIT A WEEK, LOL – SO WHEN PRODUCING, WHAT COMES FIRST? THE BEAT? THE STORY? OR THE LYRICS? AND HOW DO YOU WORK THEM ALL IN TOGETHER? 

It varies from case to case, but I’ll often just be floating around the house during the day, and I’ll get a melody in my head. I’ll start with a melody sometimes, but if I don’t have any ideas for a melody, I’ll start with a percussion group and start the drums first. Or I’ll just start with sound design, too. 

It’s different every time I do it.

FROM BEGINNING TO END, HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO CREATE AND PRODUCE THIS EP? AND HOW DID YOU KNOW WHEN IT WAS, LIKE, COMPLETE?

Well, I started the title track over a year ago. So, it’s been probably a year, and there have been some changes in the process. This one was relatively speedy compared to the last one. And I knew when it was complete when I polished off ‘Wildfire. 

The rest of the EP was all wrapped up and ready to go. And I felt like it needed that one to pull it all together. So once that one was wrapped up, I thought it was good to go.

SOME PEOPLE LIKE TO DO THE CAR TEST TO SEE IF THE SONG/EP IS READY. DO YOU DO SOMETHING SIMILAR?

I love a good car test! I will jump in the car with my dog and drive around vibing. I will also send my songs to my friends to see what they think.

WHO ARE SOME OTHER ARTISTS YOU WOULD LIKE TO WORK WITH?

This EP is a collaborative effort, and I have yet to think about collaborating with anybody else. I think the next couple of songs that I sit down to write I’m going I won’t have a collaborator. And then, after that, I’ll think about working with some people, but it’s not at the front of my mind right now.

TOTALLY! ENJOY THE MOMENT YOU’RE IN WITH THE TAKING IT ALL IN TOUR AND EP COMING OUT, AND THEN FOCUS ON THAT LATER. WHAT IS YOUR PROCESS WHEN YOU GET INTO THE STUDIO? WHAT IS THAT LIKE? HOW DO YOU GET INTO THE ZONE?

Having the comfortability goes a long way in creating. However, I have been finding it challenging to get that comfortability. I’ve moved five times in the last three years, which is partially why it took me a year and a half to write six songs. 

And recently, it’s been hard to find that space between wrapping up this EP, getting the tour ready to go, prepping all the tour sets, and working like that. Yeah. So after this tour is done, finding that comfortability will be the priority.  

ON THAT NOTE – WHEN YOU’RE ON THE ROAD, HOW DO YOU FIND THE SPACE TO GET THAT CREATIVE SPACE GOING? HOW DO YOU TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF WHILE ON TOUR?

Honestly, I like to read and journal a lot! I journal at least once a week when I’m on the road to check in with myself and remind myself of how I’m feeling. I also watch what I eat and keep an exercise routine. 

LAST QUESTION: WE DISCUSSED THE OVERALL MESSAGE YOU WANTED FOR ‘JUST BREATHE.’ IS THAT A SIMILAR MESSAGE YOU’RE HOPING YOUR AUDIENCE GETS FROM THE EP IN GENERAL? 

My favorite thing about music is that it’s all subjective, and everybody takes a different message out of it. The feeling I put into it is wanting to take a step back, appreciate what’s happening around you, and not let it all rush by you so fast. And to get on the same page with each other, you know? Everybody’s so divided in this day and age. It is so easy to forget that we’re all people and get caught up in our problems that we forget to love the people around us.  

 Be sure to catch him on the rest of his tour!

Friday, March 8: Indianapolis, IN – The Mousetrap
Saturday March 9: Columbus, OH – Summit Music Hall
Saturday, March 16: Wilmington, NC – Ironclad Brewery
Friday, March 22: Cleburne, TX – Flow Faire Festival
Saturday, March 23: St. Petersburg, FL – Synergy Hot Glass
Friday, March 29: Louisville, KY – Galaxie
Saturday, March 30: Nashville, TN – Row 1
Friday, April 5: Washington DC – Flash (Rooftop)
Saturday, April 6: Burnet, TX – Texas Eclipse Festival
Thursday, April 11: Boone, NC – Boone Saloon
Friday, April 12: Durham, NC – THe Fruit
Saturday, April 13: Jacksonville, FL – Woofstock
Thursday, April 18: St. Paul, MN – Turf Club
Friday, April 19: Omaha, NE – Reverb Lounge
Saturday, April 20: San Francisco, CA – Midway Patio
Friday, April 26: Atlanta, GA – Terminal West
Saturday, April 27: Charlotte, NC – Kouch Kollective
Friday, May 3: Cobb, CA – High Vibe Festival
Friday, May 10: Denver, CO – Meow Wolf
Saturday, May 11: Fort Collins, CO – The Atrium

LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!