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Name: Joshua Burnside

Nationality: Irish
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Current release: Joshua Burnside's new EP Late Afternoon In The Meadow (1887) is out November 18th 2022.

If you enjoyed this interview with Steve Louw and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit his official website. He is also on Instagram, twitter, and Facebook.  



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

I think the impulse to create is instinctual for everyone. The need to change things, to poke at our reality and adjust it comes naturally to us all as children, and then somewhere along the way all the boring life stuff, responsibilties, or the capitalist machine, whatever you want to blame, comes along and puts an end to creativity for the sake of it.

All things influence me, art, dreams, poetry, memories, politics, relationships. I mean it's all there so why exclude any facet of your life from examination and reflection, or as a source of inspiration.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

I lean heavily on the chance side of things to begin with

Bbut very quickly, when I am writing a song, the outline of what it is going to be about, the arc of the story or the general idea or theme behind the song starts to form. And then I have a framework to work from.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

Not really, I write most of my lyrics on either a laptop or on my phone these days, much to the detriment of my hand-writing. But I don't need these tools to begin writing a song, or to finish one. I can write all the lyrics in my head if needs be.

Although normally a song starts off with a melody that I have recorded into the voice notes app on my phone. And sometimes, if I am writing a song that has a lot of historical references in it I will use Wikipedia or other websites for research.

Which can sometimes lead to research rabbit holes, which in turn may take the song in an entirely new direction.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

I don't really set myself up to write with any different lighting or whatever. I think it's a good skill to be able to write at any time, in any environment.

But aye there's no ritual behind it. Perhaps a coffee, but I would do that with anything.

What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?

The first line is hard because I kind of think it is the most important. So sometimes I use a very throw away first line, a placeholder, just so that I can get on with writing the song.

Then, once the song starts to come together, I will come back to it. And often enough as it happens, I am in a good flow by then and a better first line comes to mind easily.

When do the lyrics enter the picture? Where do they come from? Do lyrics need to grow together with the music or can they emerge from a place of their own?

I like the idea of lyrics 'growing', they do sort of grow once you get going. And then all you have to do is separate the weeds from the flowers.
 
Sometimes I start with the words, from a few sentences I have had in my head, and sometimes the melody informs the words. Certain melodies long for certain vowel sounds, and certain rhythms like particular consonants. And then we all like a good rhyme, we all like a little bit of aliteration. So once you get going, as long as you are being honest in some way, even if it's all lies, and are trying to surprise yourself, then lyrics can come very easily.

Sometimes.

What makes lyrics good in your opinion? What are your own ambitions and challenges in this regard?

Lyrics that put me in a place, that paint a scene, a mood, and tell a story. Colourful lyrics, nouns and adjectives that surprise me, or little details that tell you a lot very quickly. Lyrics that make me laugh I love. Lyrics that create mystery, that tell a hidden story, that give you only fragmented glimpses of a beautiful view. I like those.

For me, the battle is between the sound of the lyrics, and their meaning. The holy grail is when the sound of the words elevates the emotion and meaning of the words. But if it doesn't, it can create an interesting juxtaposition. So, it can work the other way as well.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

The creative state for me is a calm and fun state, so sort of relaxing and exciting at the same time. I want to tap into my inner child and get lost in the process.

Especially in the digital age, the writing and production process tends towards the infinite. What marks the end of the process? How do you finish a work?
 
I don't know if a song is ever really finished. Everytime you perform it live it alters a tiny bit.

But there are two main bookmarks to the life a song. When the song is written, and when the song is recorded. It's hard to finish the recording as I record most of my own music myself, so I have no time limit. So I often need someone else to tell me that it's done. Not that I ever listen.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

I never really have the time to get that sense of emptiness. For example, if it's an album I've finished and released, I start working straight away on the music videos for the singles, for the artwork for the tour posters, for the live set-up for the tour and how to present these songs in a live setting with a band.

By the time the tour is over I'll already have a bunch of new songs that I'm working on, and I'll be thinking about the next release. So I rarely have too much time to wallow in any sort of emptiness.