Members/Instruments:
Josh Weinstein — Piano, keyboards, assorted other instruments, & vocals
John Bollinger — Drums & junkyard percussion
Jason Di Matteo — Upright bass
Rob Ritchie — Guitar

Year Formed:
2002

1.Past: What is your musical background? What has led you to this point?
I’m a jazz pianist by training, although I came to it through blues & rock. I also made a living for many years as a writer while I was playing music at night. Put those two elements together — literary background and a varied musical upbringing that grew out of various American roots forms — and I think you have a pretty good snapshot of my sound now.

Over the years, I’ve also become more and more interested in the music of everyday life—voices, conversations, the clank of train cars, the pulse of windshield wipers, the percussive effect of bar glasses being filled and emptied, that kind of thing. These are all melody and rhythm, even if we don’t call them capital-M Music. So as time has gone on, I’ve tried more and more to erase the line between music and “everything else”—to incorporate found sound into my recordings. And, frankly, to sing less. The expression is, “Sing me a little, tell me a lot.” I think that’s exactly right.

As a result, I’ve come to a sound that I call Junkyard Electric (or –Acoustic, depending on the venue): Found-object percussion, string bass, electric guitar, keys of whichever kind might fit the mood. I sing about some heavy, everyday stuff sometimes, often with a slightly dark ironic edge, and I think the sound and the subject matter match well now.

2.Present: Where are you at now in your career? What are you currently working on?
I just finished a record, my third: Love & Alcohol. The last one made its way onto some prominent Ten Best lists in 2006. So we’re going to work to try and get the latest one into as many ears as possible. We’ve got a radio campaign up and running as we speak. It’s summer festival season, so we’ll be busy through fall. Beyond that, I never know what’s ahead. That’s the fun of it, though…

3.Future: What’s coming up for you? Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
At my current pace, perhaps two more albums in the can. Each album is its own evolution, so I can’t predict what shape the next one(s) will take, but I’d guess one might push the concept of found-sound much farther, possibly break away completely from beginning-middle-end songwriting. And the other might head in the opposite direction—electric blues or funk with traditional song structure. Or maybe I’ll decide that albums are truly dead and go in a completely different direction that I haven’t thought of yet.

In general, if I’ve done something already, I don’t like to do it again. It makes for a rewarding composition and recording process, but it’s hell on a career: no one can ever pin you down. The idea, I think, is to be that way long enough that you’re eventually pinned down as a guy who can’t be pinned down. That’s not bad.

Which is to say: I don’t know where I’ll be, but the framework for my career—chasing ideas as a songwriter, player, producer and arranger—will hopefully be a similar but farther-evolved version of the one it is now.

4.Where can people find more of your music?
www.joshweinstein.com
www.cdbaby.com/jweinstein3
www.myspace.com/joshweinstein1
www.sonicbids.com/joshweinstein

5.Anything you’d like to plug?
Love & Alcohol, out this spring on RandomLogo records. And check www.joshweinstein.com for festival and other performance dates.