This past weekend I got to sit down with Goldroom (Josh Legg) and chat about his new EP and experience at Wakarusa 2015. Despite some technical difficulties in the beginning of his set, he had the crowd dancing to his sunset disco set at The Satellite Stage, Friday evening with the beautiful setting sun as the backdrop. Here’s what he had to say,
So Josh, Did you get a chance to go out and explore at all today?
I didn’t, getting the chance explore festivals is my favorite thing. I love disappearing into the crowd and seeing bands I’ve never seen before and just hanging out and meeting people.
Are you staying tomorrow?
No I’m leaving for Little Rock in a couple hours, so I can fly to Europe to go to Greece
When did you start producing music and how did you get into it?
It depends on what your definition of producing music is – looking back I think it started when I was about 12. My cousin gave me a Task AM 4 track cassette recorder. With a 4 track recorder you can record instruments on side A and dub them to other instruments on the other side, like it is now but it was on cassette tapes. So I was writing from the moment I started playing guitar, I started writing songs on it, when I was 10 years old. So I was always writing songs and recoding them and I got really interested and excited about how to make the recording sound as good as possible, I didn’t really know it but that’s when I started learning about producing.
Do you only play guitar or do you play other instruments also?
I played Cello for like 8 years – I love cello, it’s my favorite. But a few years into that I started listening to rock and roll and forced my parents to buy me a guitar and then I started playing guitar and learning it and really fell it love with it. I play keys and bass also. When we play live with the band I play keys and guitar
So you just had an EP come out “It’s Like You’ve Never Went Away” – Tell me about that?
Yeah, it was kind of interesting. I’ve been an independent artist since I started and basically what happened with this EP was my label Dowtown Records and Snapchat came up with this idea for a collaboration that they wanted me to be apart of. So they pitched me on it and I thought it was really exciting. We shot four music videos vertically for phones and it’s really a short film that’s broken up into 4 music videos. So it’s kind of the first time that it ever happened before so the idea of getting the chance to do something that’s never been done before is pretty exciting.
Who are you inspirations and where did your influences come from for this EP?
My real influences and inspirations have always came from the same place, that’s classic song writing from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. I just want to write songs like Tom Petty, that’s all I care about doing and I just want to make classic Americana but put it over this really cool palate that I love. I’m trying to take classic folk music and Americana and write songs that are meaning full and lasting and that would work if I just played them on guitar and sang them but then placed them over this very narrow sliver of electronic music that I love
What would you like your listeners to take away from you EP?
Hopefully it can be an escape for some people. Music has always been an escape for me and when I was 14 and hating life I would just lie in bed and listen to music and imagine being somewhere nicer, warmer. I think I still make music coming from that place, so my hope is that I can make people feel something and want something more
Do you recommend any artists in your similar style to check out?
Most of my favorite artists don’t make dance music but I have a great community of riends that make the same music and come from the same background as me and kind of approach electronic music from a band and song writing perspective. And everyone should go check out guys like Poolside, The Knocks, RAC, The Youth. These are all people that I’m really close with Gigamesh – were all really close with each other and support each others music which is great and isn’t something that I really had until I started this project and found some kindred spirits and we all been approaching this style of music from the same perspective.
You’re playing a bunch of festivals this summer, which are you most excited for or that you already played?
Hangout fest in Alabama was really cool because it was literally on the beach and I’m going to be really happy about that any time it happens. I’m also really excited for Electric Forest, because everyone keeps telling me over and over again that it’s the greatest festival in the world and were going to spend a couple days there so I’m going to get to have my own adventure there and go out exploring. I’m really, really excited for that. I’m also playing a live set and a DJ set there, so that’s pretty cool. Then probably FYF Fest in LA just because that’s been a minute since I’ve played in LA, for LA fans, the hometown one is always big and FYF is a festival that I’ve loved for a longtime, it’s like Coachella’s little sister. So it’s going to be very cool to play that.
What can we expect from you for the rest of the year?
Working a lot with my band and like improving the live show and making it bigger and better and at this point I don’t have any more excuses, I have to finish my album. I think I’ve put out enough singles, I realized the other day I’ve put out an hour of original music but I’ve never released an album, so it’s time for me to finish my record, I’ve been writing it for 4 years now so that’s definitely the goal for the next new months.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I didn’t get a chance to explore today but I was very spiritually won over by the Ozarks, the drive in was so beautiful and you just feel like you are enveloped by nature then getting the chance to DJ in the middle of all that was very special, it was very cool.
Huge thank you again to Josh for taking the time out of his schedule to meet with us at Chicago Music Festivals this past weekend
Check out his new EP “It’s Like You Never Went Away” below
