2

333

No. 16.5

STACHE

Editor in Chief M a i n e M a n a l a n s a n

Creative Director J a r e d C a r l M i l l a n

Marketing Director e l l i e C e n t e n o

Marketing Associate C o C o M a C e r e n

Music Editor l a M b e r t C r u z

Fashion Editor e C k s a b i t o n a

Web Developer M a r y n y r i e n e s i l v e s t r e

W r i t e r s Al fonso Bass ig , Karla Bernardo, Alvin Greg Molina

P h o t o g r a P h e r s Chris t ienne Berona, Mayee Gonzales , Mariah

Reodica

i l l u s t r a t o r s Mica Agregado, Tzaddi Esguerra, Angela

Espinosa, Ches Gatpayat, Daniela Go, Je s san Miramon, Vince

Puerto, Marel la Rickett s , Ina Datuin

s P e C i a l t h a n k s to Garry Pickford of The Breeze Studios and,

Toti Dalmacion of Terno Recordings . This i s sue would not have

been pos s ible without their help.

s u b M i s s i o n s getcreative@stachemagazine.com

i n q u i r i e s info@stachemagazine.com

a d v e r t i s i n g adver ti s ing@stachemagazine.com

t W i t t e r http: / / twitter.com/stachemagazine

f a C e b o o k http: / / facebook.com/stachemagazineonline

P h o t o f r o M g o l d r o o M

THE TEAM

4

CONTENTSCONTENTS:

COVER STORY

“STAYING GOLDEN” W r i t t e n b y e l l i e C e n t e n o

5

CONTENTSCONTENTS

POGO

FEMINIST TAYLORSWIFT

BUWAN BUWAN COLLECTIVE

YOUNGLIQUIDGANG

P. 2 4

P. 8

P. 1 2

P. 1 9

6

SECTION

7

The Stache Covers Album is a project that I’ve been working on the past

month-- collecting covers sent in by a great number of young Filipino

musicians, carefully selecting and producing each song to come up with this

15-track album.

Not only does the album showcase the seemingly innate

passion for music that Filipinos have, it also gives the listener a peek into

the heart of each musician and a slice of the raw soul that comes naturally in

making music.

Downloading the album and let the songs grow on you.

I hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we did in making this album

happen.

Always believe in the power of good music!

Ellie Centeno

Download Stache Covers Album here.

STACHE COVERS ALBUM

8

SECTION

feMinisttaylor

sWiftWritten by eCks abitona

9

Brainchild Clara Beyer with the help of Kevin Carty, senior students of Brown University didn’t anticipate for their

Twitter operation going viral. From only 20 followers on June 12, 2013, the feminist parody account reached over 50,

000 in the span of three days. The account resonated largely because of Swift’s vast popularity. According to Beyer,

“People know Taylor Swift lyrics. Even if they don’t want to, they know them.” Like many humans, Beyer is not

immune to Swift’s regrettably relatable sentiments nor is she ashamed of it. “I consider myself a feminist, and I blog

about that kind of thing all the time, but I also LOVE Taylor Swift,” Beyer told Buzzfeed. “Being a feminist Taylor

Swift fan isn’t always easy, but it led to @FeministTSwift, so I’m not really complaining.”

Feminist Taylor Swift amusingly took a spin on the pop star’s lyrics with a feminine perspective,

focusing on issues such as sexism, gender roles and female rights. The facetious banter of feminist theory and Swift’s

smitten and catchy lyrics provides a susceptible means of engaging the society to important matters with things that

are already part of their day-to-day lives like pop culture and the Internet. Astonishingly, it turns out Taylor Swift may

be the voice of our generation; someone we don’t desire but need. Her values aren’t exactly straightened out with issues

from past boyfriends and their current girlfriends and this is what makes this parody account so wonderful—we are all

lonely, free, confused, and oppressed by the patriarchy at the same time.

FEMINIST TAYLOR SWIFT

10

MUSIC

11

FEMINIST TAYLOR SWIFT

12

MUSIC

A quick roundup of some of the ar t i s t s from one of the most versati le music col lect ives in the country.

BUWAN BUWAN COLLECTIVE

E d i t E d b y E l l i E c E n t E n o a n d l a m b E r t c r u z ,

p h o t o s f r o m b u w a n b u w a n c o l l E c t i v E

13

14

MUSIC

WHAT IS BUWAN BUWAN COLLECTIVE?

Buwan-Buwan is a traditional Filipino game that enacts the lunar eclipse. Play-

ers draw a circle on the ground representing the moon, and must stay inside

this circle. Meanwhile, one player acts as the Bakunawa, the mythical giant sea

serpent who would eat the moon: he may not enter the circle, but must touch

another player who is inside it in order to switch places.

Buwan-Buwan has been all but forgotten by a generation

of young, Filipino urbanites weaned on gadgets and mass media, but Buwan-

Buwan, a Pinoy beatmakers and electronic musicians collective, appropriate the

concept of a game they in fact never played as children, transforming it into a

framework for their perpetual creative exchanges, a take-off point for defining

their identity as Filipino artists, and above all, a common ground where they can

all play.

WHO IS BUWAN BUWAN COLLECTIVE?

similarobjects

“The spiritual “I” that is one with the Universal mind. Manifesting truth

through vibrations and ripples through reality.”

likeanimals

LikeAnimals is a drummer and beatmaker from the Philippine Islands. LikeAni-

mals’ music is centered around the idea that we as people are all interconnected,

and to strengthen that connection and allow peace to manifest, we need to drop

the notion that superficial things like money and social approval will solve our

problems. We can only solve our problems through love. Drop the ego and fancy

words, speak like animals.

Projectile Projections

A system of sounds exploring through different forms of frequencies delivering

the unheard to life and delicately mixed with organic components distributing

life to the nonexistent. Mythical and scientific, based on objective realizations.

Realigned for purposes of fair and equal humanity gathering splatters of ideas to

vibrations communicated by these futuristic sounds that restores ancient secrets

and human dignity formed and built through these structurally unsound tracks.

binspants

Music is his repository for all the bleeps and bloops in his head.

a y/n

a y/n explores subconscious perceptions, abstractions and emotions through

decisive sonic process. The result is a stimulus of recurring choice, a sum of the

present and absent, the ideal and tangible, seeding deeper resonances within

our own recesses.

Sloj

Sloj is a creator of other atmospheres. A soundscape scientist specializing in

subterranean hip-hop production squatting in blunted tempo camps and lethal

headnod grooves.

Spazzkid

Stowed away in the sprawling corner of Los Angeles, Spazzkid aka Mark Redito

quietly constructs his map of seemingly disparate beats and melodies into per-

fect harmony. With influences that span from punk to j-pop to video game

music and everything in between, Spazzkid’s sonic fancies are evident in his

tracks as they find the listener riding high on percussive waves of jazzy synthpop

or feverishly gnawing on crafted candy electro pop.

Nights of Rizal

Electronic music project Nights of Rizal began as singer-songwriter Migi de

Belen’s means to communicate mixed feelings of longing, regret, bitterness,

remorse, hope, and affection across continents wordlessly. He imagined the

wealthy ilustrado Jose Rizal puffing smoke from cigar stubs tossed away by

15

Europeans onto their cold, lamp-lit cobblestone streets. Like Jose Rizal, Migi

couldn’t keep his words to himself. Unlike the famous novelist though, Migi

considers himself a hero only in the Super Mario sense, sucked into the dark

and winding pipework of his own nostalgia. Nights of Rizal is the low-res, pix-

elated soundtrack to Migi’s endless 2D side-scrolling: where the princess is not

a princess, but is a concept, and is always in another castle.

August Wahh

“We are born only half ourselves. The other half is our expression.” Best known

for her track Hermano featuring RBTO.

Nick Payumo

24 year old who started releasing his ambient creation through Bandcamp in

November of 2012. His latest release is a four track called “he completed a

particularly difficult scene in two takes”

Zomtendo

The first 8-bit gentleman of the Philippines. Armed with a wide array of DMG’s

and a Gameboy Color, this chiptune warrior serves his sonic palette of raw

sound waves in ways you’ve never expected. I guess big sounds do sometimes

come in small packages.

The After-School Special

The After-School Special is the solo project of Anton Salvador that started in

2006 that served as an alternative music outlet compared to the bands he’s

played in. He chose the name “The After School Special” because he often

found himself crafting beats after coming home from class. In the early years of

his project he dabbled in a wide range of genres (house, trance, dubstep, etc).

Only in 2012 did he decide to actually sit down and take this project seriously.

The After-School Special combines long drawn out synths, clicks and cuts in an

effort to create textured electronic soundscapes.

Kaiju

Originating from the tropical heat of the Philippines, Kyle Quismundo, a

20-year-old college student, keeps cool as he is not your average musician.

Introducing his audience to a world of soundscapes, industrial, ambient, and

experimental music, Kyle evokes an atmospheric quality; fresh and invigorating,

while capturing a contemporary feel that most new artists lack today. Though

his sounds are futuristic, evidently different from what is currently heard in the

music industry, his music is versatile as his pieces come off as rich and strong in

timbre but shy of unobtrusive tones and quality. Continuously evolving from

deviating harmonies of metallic drones and resonance, Kyle effortlessly lures

avid musicians and listeners alike into a contemplative spaciousness, creating a

new realm of sounds and impressions.

We Talk In Codes

When he is not out annoying the rest of the universe, Eugene Niles Salenga

sits in front of his laptop then rewires Ableton and Reason to craft beats &

tunes. After which, he goes to the kitchen & prepares a warm bowl of oatmeal.

The 500

Hailing from the underground beat scene of Manila, The 500 throws beats,

beeps and blips across the universe with no remorse.

SPNZ1991

Neil Raymundo spills his sick hiphop/soul beats onto Soundcloud and for sure

you’re gonna get with it.

FloatingSoundNation

Apex Chuidian writes about the creators within him. Better known as Floating

Sound Nation or sometimes Vishuddha AhnDahWata, he resides in the Philip-

pines Islands, yet he has travelled the world looking for the himself that resides

in “we”. Everything is pure thought and frequency manifested, all frequencies

BUWAN BUWAN COLLECTIVE

16

SECTION

16

BUWAN BUWAN COLLECTIVE

1717

are vibrations and all vibrations make a sound.

TheBGNR

A Music Production student at De La Salle - College of St. Benilde, Andrew

Florentino has had his share of experience creating and performing music. He

played the role of vocalist and guitarist for his high school project MakeShift,

and is doing the same for his current band, Actually Not Here. Wanting to try

new things musically, he took up producing electronic music as TheBGNR. He

is currently enjoying a cup of hot chocolate and a couple of cigarettes.

Jim P

Weapon of choice: Logic Pro and Propellerhead Reason. Making Hip Hop

tracks is his forte.

Techiyaki

Patrick Santa Maria, better known as TECHIYAKI started making remixes for

different artists and started making his own music in the latter part of 2011.

His first EP was made mainly through experimenting electronic music and was

released last February 2012. His second EP concentrates in Drum N Bass and

was released on July 2012. On April 2013, he released his third EP, Good Morn-

ing Beautifool, a five track fusion of different genres.

James Ussher

18 years old Carlo James Maaliw from Lucban, Quezon is equipped with his

laptop and lots of crazy ideas. This new kid on the block has been doing his

IDM / EDM homework 3 years before diving in production. Admittedly a big

fan of the concept of alternate universes and the sampling culture; grinding

bits of musical elements and re-assembling them in different form. Undecided

to which genre he would stick to but all in for breaking boundaries and fusing

different worlds.

CONCLΔVE

A beatsmith from the land of the thousand islands.

invisible ants

Gelo cruz, a Music Production student at De La Salle - College Of St. Benilde.

He is the vocalist and guitarist of the band @harlequincarnivale. Skrillex watch

your back.

| | A SY L U M I N I C A/Pei-hraack! | |

A student from De La Salle – College Of St. Benilde. Be careful where your

mind goes with Jenica Mendoza’s short of 2 minute tracks. Also owns Needle

Trade Shop which offers a variety of brand new, pre-loved and thrifted clothing

as well as shoes.

Impulse Project

IMPULSE aka Wilbryan Era is a DJ/producer and Electronic Live Act coming

from the south.

BUWAN BUWAN COLLECTIVE

18

SECTION

1919

A quick look at YoungLiquidGang’s members and philosophy

YOUNGLIQUIDGANG

w o r d s b y E l l i E c E n t E n o , p h o t o f r o m y o u n g l i q u i d g a n d

20

The Youngliquidgang (“YLG” for short) is a community of musicians and artists

that shares its music and art through time and Internet space. From electronic

homegrown music projects to underrated visual artists, YLG strives hard to offer

its diverse talents online, to spread its message and to simply just make new

friends to hang out with.

The collective was formed last September 2012 by Rome

Gomez, Zeon Gomez and Ethan Namoch; with the sole purpose of “germinat-

ing” their crafts along with like-minded people to spread their very own culture,

causing an artistic epidemic.

As a collective, not only do they want to gain more members

but they also want to make friends along the way. In the end, it’s all about

enjoying the moments, the love that they put into the gang, and the love that

the youth has given to music and art.”

MUSIC

1. Spirit Ocean

Spirit Ocean is an Indie Pop Duo, consisting of Zeon Gomez and Hana Acbd.

Inspired by the vastness of the ocean, which is like the human emotion the duo

sings about Love, Sadness and everything in between.

2. No Rome

No Rome aka Rome Gomez is a dreampop/chillwave/internetwave/floralwave/

genrewave artist. He makes introverted electronic and experimental music. He

gets most of his inspirations from pictures and visuals of gardens, seas, and

Japanese art. tumblr is his haven.

3. The Valiant Vermin

Bettina: “Last November, people suggested that I should make my own music.

I was like ‘sure.’ lololol”

4. Hana

A solo project of the other half of Spirit Ocean. Hana’s music revolves around

RnB, Trip-Hop and Trap fused with gentle vocals, creating a calming atmos-

phere for listeners to enjoy.

5. Soul_brk

SOUL_BRK is a bedroom project by beat alchemist Leon Esquillon. He ven-

tures the realm of sadness and serenity to gather ideas and funnel them into a

resonating entity called SOUL_BRK. His music can be classified as ambient,

glitch-hop, and “sadwave.”

6. Sczintillation

The inventor of visual vaporwave genre. A visual vaporwave project of Hitori

Takane inspired by Electronic and Visual kei music. Sczintillation’s main goal is

to take his listeners to the next level of visual electronic music.

7. //C:

The sequences of :C// is an auditory embodiment of an 80’s arcade game ac-

companied by old-fashioned virtues of production. He attempts to personify

the complexities of a computer mainframe: programs breathe within a surreal,

geometric gridscape. His music is predicated on the sentience of computer pro-

grams that exist in a blue-gray scheme filled with lights, speeding objects and

blurry motion.

8. What is Andromeda?

A side project founded by Mao Alducente and Ethan Namoch. They started

the venture of producing Ambient tracks based on their wildest dreams and the

discovery of the genre itself, to where it had taken them. What is Andromeda

is inspired on their daily lives, from underrated movie marathons, to countless

shares on music, and of course, name-calling.

MUSIC

21

9. COEXIST

Ethan Namoch had four months of soul-searching before he started COEXIST.

From chillwave-influenced tracks to heavy-reverbed hard analog synths, he con-

tinues to share his vibrations amplified by people around him.

VISUAL

1. Joreen Navarro

A purveyor of illustrative creativity, Joreen, or Jors for short, likes spending

her time drawing for people, conceptualizing stories, and experimenting with

different styles and mediums as her way of pursuing the profound. Her passion

for art is fueled by her love of the Big Guy, her family and friends, YLG family’s

music, and mostly Mcdonald’s french fries.

2. Wander Wonderland

Before there was music, there was Wander Wonderland. It is the brainchild of

Hana Acbd, who is an illustrator by profession. Wander Wonderland’s illustra-

tions are rich in surrealism and is basically inspired by drawings of children.

3. Leon Esquillon

Leon Esquillon started of as a visual artist in Youngliquidgang. He created sev-

eral art pieces for the Youngliquidgand collective and its members early this year

and finally ventured off in the beat scene after a midnight revelation.

4. Mikki Castro

You’ll mostly find Mikki safe behind her sketchbook, quietly sketching stran-

gers or drawing comics. Animation student, midnight music lurker, movie

marathoner, resident of the Internet, harasser of small dogs; Mikki Castro is an

illustrator-dreamer who hopes to be a successfully published one in the future.

She seeks inspiration from the strange, the unusual, the weird and wonderful,

and finds that music communicates with her best late at night. She is a shy girl,

so approach with caution.

22

MUSIC

Here are 21 ar ti s t s to add to your iTunes l ibrary

21 ARTISTS YOU SHOULD BE WATCHING OUT FOR

l i s t b y E l l i E c E n t E n o , p h o t o f r o m y o u n g r E a d E r s

23

There is no point in denying that we experience a sense of accomplishment, of

fulfillment, when we discover an artist we like for the first time. It’s a lot like

falling in love at first sight but with a lot less pain that comes with heartbreak

involved, because you know music will always be there for you.

I didn’t think to write about the artists I’ve included in this

list because I’d very much rather let their music speak for itself. I highly advise

you to stop whatever it is you’re doing right now and listen to these twenty-

one artists, old and new, because it never hurts to add a little more to your

music library every now and then, right?

1. A Great Big Pile of Leaves

2. And the Giraffe

3. Crystal Fighters

4. Daley

5. Denitia Odigie

6. Escondido

7. Hey Ocean!

8. Hunter Hunted

9. King Krule

10. Knox Hamilton

11. Library Kids

12. Maxine Jarantilla

13. Neala Medina

14. Nicolas Jaar

15. Nouvul

16. Phlo Finister

17. Phox

18. Riley and the Roxies

19. Robert DeLong

20. Selah Sue

21. Young Readers

24

MUSIC

Nick Bertke talks to Stachecabout plunderphonics , video games, North America, and the Fi l ipino talent .

MUSICAL WONDERLAND

w r i t t E n b y E l l i E c E n t E n o , p h o t o b y m a r i a h r E o d i c a

s p E c i a l t h a n k s t o g a r r y p i c k f o r d o f t h E b r E E z E s t u d i o s

25

26

MUSIC

WHEN music-slash-social-media website last.fm was in its heyday back in

2008, a website numerous musically-adventurous people name as one of their

ultimate sources of new sounds, I stumbled upon Australian artist Nick Bertke

who humbly goes by the name ‘Pogo’. I lingered on his profile for some time,

downloading every free track that’s available. His music, mostly composed of

sound clips usually taken from movies, TV shows and video games, carefully

and beautifully weaved into an intricate musical jigsaw puzzle, is the work of

a genius.

So that one afternoon last July when I saw Nick’s tweet on my

Twitter feed that went along the lines of, “Just finished recording a song with an

amazing singer from the Philippines,” I couldn’t help but tweet him back and

ask if he was in Manila because more than wanting to feature him on Stache,

I wanted to meet him, so although thinking it was a long shot, I went for it.

When he tweeted me back the next day to say he was indeed in the country for

a few days, all the fan girl feelings I had for him in high school started rushing

back and after tweets were exchanged, we arranged a meeting and sat down

and talked over drinks that evening in one of the little hole-in-the-wall bars in

Manila.

In the few days Nick stayed in the Philippines, he managed to

record a song with an eleven-year-old Filipino named John Sean about young

love, which was released mid-July on YouTube under the title “Mi Angel”. Other

than being a mash-up artist, he has become successful in making YouTube viral

videos, with his videos averaging hundreds of thousands (more often than not,

reaching millions) of views. Nick, being the modest man that he is, attributes

his fame to sheer luck, but I, along with his multitudes of fans, beg to differ.

Tracing his little beginnings from making music with a game

on the PlayStation called Music 2000 when he was younger and on the com-

puter when he was thirteen through programs Cakewalk and FL Studio, and

although he learned how to play the drums, Nick said he’s always thought he

found his niche in electronic music. When asked about his influences, he said

Akufen was instrumental in his discovery of plunderphonics, a music style made

by taking existing sounds and recordings and reworking them into a new com-

position. He also named his influences in the likes of Theo Parrish, Moomin,

“and a lot of artists not many people have heard of,” he quips. Although greatly

influenced by different electronic musicians and being likened to Skrillex, one

can argue that Pogo’s style is extremely unique.

Having made mash-ups with sound clips from Harry Potter,

Terminator, Alice in Wonderland, Pulp Fiction, Up to Monsters, Inc., Nick

mentioned that when picking them out, they have to resonate to him on some

level. Naming Alice in Wonderland as his favorite, he thought nothing has man-

aged to captivate him more than the 1951 film. He decided when he started

piecing sound clips together, he’d release this track as his first, which was aptly

entitled, “Alice”. As he started making more songs and posting them all over

YouTube, his audience started getting bigger and bigger, and at some point

during the build-up of his music career, Disney took notice of what he was

doing. Contrary to his belief that Disney would react violently to what he does

and possibly chase him with lawsuits, they thought what he was doing was neat

and asked they could commission him to do a few tracks for them and this is

how the collaboration of the century came about. Disney sent him to the US

to tour the Pixar Animation Studios in California, which, interestingly enough,

was the first and only time Disney ever let anyone outside of Disney go on such

a tour. Since then, Nick has been making tracks for Disney films such as Up,

with a song called ‘Upular’, and Toy Story, with songs ‘Buzzwing’ and ‘Toyz

Noize’. He also remixed songs for The Little Mermaid, which until now is an

unreleased track, and Pirates of the Carribean that was anonymously leaked

through YouTube.

In 2010, Nick’s video ‘Gardyn’ got into the Top 25 (out of the

23,000 submitted videos) of YouTube Play, a project they developed with the

Guggenheim Museum and in partnership with HP. His video, along with 24

others, were projected onto the walls of the Guggenheim Museum in New York

for an event.

Nick openly admits that North America has been significantly

27

MUSICAL WONDERLAND

more open to his kind of music than in Australia, where the general music

taste of the people are geared towards the rock and alternative genres. Although

his dream show – which consists mainly of his videos being projected all over

every flat surface of a venue and his tracks reverberating through people’s ears,

“I just want to fill people with graphics and sounds,” he says – hasn’t quite

happened yet, his shows in North America were unbelievable. He wishes to

get more shows around the globe and get them further off the ground because

according to him, “remixing still has so much untapped potential when it comes

to live performances.”

Currently, Nick is continuously producing songs of a certain

unmatchable quality that only he can deliver and they inevitably go viral, thanks

to his immense amount of talent and massive following. He is also planning on

venturing out into a recording and animation business with Breeze Studios in

the Philippines.

28

COVER STORY

Josh Legg talks about touring with his band and creating good, honest music .

STAYING GOLDEN

i n t E r v i E w b y E l l i E c E n t E n o , p h o t o s f r o m g o l d r o o m

29

30

MUSIC

Los Angeles has long been the breeding ground of talented musicians; with its

energy, the people, the places, and the iconic palm trees that seem to hold so

much promise and romance for them. Amongst artists such as Devendra Ban-

hart, Haim, The Doors, OFWGKTA, Frank Zappa, Black Flag, Cypress Hill,

Cold War Kids and The Deadly Syndome, Goldroom’s Josh Legg is proud to call

the City of Dreams home.

Having been producing electronic music for six years and be-

ing influenced by 80’s French music and synth-based film score, Josh traces

Goldroom’s roots from his synth-pop trio called NightWaves, when he decided

to branch out to a solo project for his songs “that had no home, songs influenced

by summer, by LA”. With synths that sound as if they’ve been pulled out of your

dreams, groovy vocals and beats simulating the tropics, if the Los Angeles sum-

mer ever had to be experienced in sound, Goldroom’s music is nothing short of

perfect.

STACHE sat down with Josh and talked about music, LA,

summer and all things Goldroom.

Who is Goldroom? Where did the name ‘Goldroom’ originate?

I’m Josh Legg, and I started Goldroom in 2012 as my solo production project.

I’ve been in a number of bands and musical projects over the years and I wanted

something that would give me the freedom to write songs and collaborate with a

number of different people. These days, my focus is really heavily on Goldroom

as a band, which has two other very important members: Mereki Beach who

sings, and Nick Sandler, our drummer.

The name Goldroom is a bit of an homage to Los Angeles and

the entire Southwestern USA. I didn’t grow up here, so the area still holds a lot

of romantic notions to me and has been a big influence on the music I make. In

a lot of ways I view Southern California as one giant golden room. It also hap-

pens to be that one of my favorite drinking spots in LA is this tiny dive bar in

Echo Park called the Gold Room. It sort of all came together one fateful night!

How did everything come to be?

I’ve been writing songs for as long as I can remember. By the time I was 15 or

so, I started to become very interested in recording the songs I was writing. I was

lucky enough to be given a 4-track tape recorder by my cousin, which became

my first ‘studio’. From that day, I’ve been obsessed with recorded sound and

translating a song as well as possible into recorded sound. I’ve been in too many

musical projects to really mention, but of particular note is the other band I’m

a part of, NightWaves. I think I really got my electronic and dance production

chops while making NightWaves’ songs in the late 2000s. It also led me to

a fairly prolific period in 2010/2011 when I wrote some of the material that

would become the early Goldroom songs. Fast forward a couple years and I’m

putting the band together and touring around.

Tell us about your musical beginnings. Who were your influences? What

were your first instruments? Did you have any formal training?

I had a bit of a lonely childhood up through high school. I had a hard time

finding a group of friends and I ended up retreating to music to find an escape.

Some people seem to think that escapism is a cop out in music, but for me music

has always been a huge way to improve my mood or take me somewhere more

enjoyable than where I actually am. Music is so powerful that way!

Anyway, from a very early age I remember listening to music

on repeat... really anything I could get my hands on. I remember absolutely

destroying my parents’ cassettes of the Beach Boys and also some Billy Joel

album. Those guys never really became huge influences, but the experience of

losing myself in the music was something that would become a recurring theme

in my life from then on.

I did start to formally learn music from a pretty early age.

I played the cello for 10 years, I think. At some point my friend Mike and I

started to get into rock music and I quickly fell in love with the guitar. I started

writing songs on this crappy Squier Strat and never looked back. The guitar is

still my primary songwriting instrument.

31

STAYING GOLDEN

32

How big of a part has the LA music scene - or even the LA culture in its

entirety - play in shaping how your music sounds like? And how is the LA

music scene? Where do you usually hang out in LA after playing a show?

I’m not sure the music scene has really influenced my music. I’ve always felt

pretty alienated by it to be honest! I was making this kind of music for years,

mostly dropping it on deaf ears. It’s been amazing over the last couple of years

to have so many people come around to the music we’re making, but I always

feel like the ‘coolness’ of it is fleeting. I’m always expecting it to go away. It

won’t change how I approach making music though. What else can you do

but be yourself?

As for LA in its entirety, I’m not sure I can overstate its im-

portance. I’ve fallen in love with Southern California over the 10 years since I

moved here. It constantly surprises me, and I never grow tired of the things I

loved most when I first came here. There is just so much promise and energy and

romance tied up in the city. I can’t help but be inspired by it.

Do you have any rituals that you follow before starting a song? Or do you

indulge in a certain thought process before going onstage for a show?

I think I’m a pretty ritualistic guy sometimes. When I know I have a long studio

session ahead, I’ll generally get a strong coffee and do my best to have a clear

head going into the process. I’ve always been pretty open to trying to altering

my state of consciousness to keep the creative flow going, even if that just means

a coffee, or a big glass of wine, or maybe something else.

As for shows, I always take the time to warm up my voice and

visualize what will happen during the show. DJ sets not as much, but when we

play live, I take it pretty seriously. I usually need about 45 minutes to myself to

really focus on what is about to happen.

What kind of equipment do you use during live shows?

Well, I play guitar, which is a 68 Fender Stratocaster Reissue. I’m playing guitar

for most of the show. On stage we also have synthesizers and a drum kit. We

use a computer as a brain to help sync everything together, which Nick runs

from the drum kit.

What was the first live show that you went to? Tell us about that experience.

Actually my dad took me to see Aerosmith when I was 8 or 9. That’s the earliest

concert experience I can remember. It was a huge stage production with pyro

and stuff. I remember enjoying it, but I don’t think I really had a meaningful live

music experience until I saw Tom Petty when I was around 15.

Does excessive touring bother you at all? I can imagine being on tour can

get tiring sometimes, but getting to travel ever so often sounds like such

a dream!

It definitely has its positives and negatives. I really love being on the move and

traveling, so that part is a pleasure. Sometimes, especially when I’m really far

from home, it can be tough. On the whole I always really look forward to tour,

and really love it while I’m doing it. I’m also really good at sleeping in ANY

situation, so that’s a plus [laughs].

When you’re not busy recording or touring, what is a typical day like for

you?

Well, there aren’t many of those days [laughs]. I really like being outdoors,

especially on the water. During the summer on Wednesdays I’m sailing in Long

Beach all afternoon/evening. Get me outside with my lady and some friends

and I’ll be happy.

What, to you, is good music?

Anything honest. Anything that makes you feel something emotional. It could

be any emotion, positive or negative, but I think good music makes you feel

something. For me, music is an escape from life... so I think sometimes I listen

to music a little differently than other people because of that.

MUSIC

33

I hear lately you’ve been touring around, which city has the best ‘Goldroom’

crowd? Would you ever want to play a show in the Philippines?

Getting the chance to see a lot of the world has been the biggest unexpected

benefit to starting Goldroom. I love the routine and structure of being on the

road. Sometimes that structure is chaos, but it all fits within this amazing frame-

work. Its so hard to say where the best crowds are though! I guess if I had to

pick, I’d say that in general, the South American crowds have been amazing in

the pure amount of love they give off during a show. Its electric. They also know

how to bring the party (blow up palm tress in particular!)

Of all of the places I haven’t been that I’d love to go, the

Philippines is at the top of the list! I would love to come and play there. I have a

pretty specific vision for what it would be like, so I hope one day I’ll get to come

and see for myself.

In previous interviews, Josh has always expressed in always looking to improve

himself as a songwriter, naming a few musicians (dead or alive) as his dream

collaborations such as Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and Ryan Adams. He’s also said

that performing live is something important to him, “DJ-ing is about taking

chances,” he quips. To him, live music has so much more energy, and different

nights always have different vibes.

Josh is currently working on the Goldroom album, saying,

“I’ve been writing a lot, I have an iTunes folder with 25 songs. It’s important to

me that the album is perfect, and it’s pretty close to being done.”

Now that Christmas is just around the corner, which means

our evenings are getting colder, I think it’s very timely to get yourself acquainted

with Goldroom – to keep those cold nights warm with the sounds of an LA

summer.

STAYING GOLDEN

34

SECTION

ENEMIES LIVE IN MANILAp h o t o s b y m a y E E g o n z a l E s

35

ENEMIES LIVE IN MANILAp h o t o s b y m a y E E g o n z a l E s

36

SECTION

37

38

SECTION

39

40

SECTION

41

s tachemagazine.com