JOSH FISCHEL (BARGAIN MUSIC) INTERVIEW
PART TWO
When we last left Josh, The Pier and he were discussing his appreciation for all types of music. Let’s just get straight into it shall we?
The Pier: So what styles of music are you into at the moment?
Josh: There is a lot of indie bands that I have been listening to lately. There is a scene going on over in Philadelphia of bunch bands that grew up and play together. It’s totally different, it’s retro 60s, classic rock mixed with indie music. I am also listening to a lot of underground hip hop and old school country and old school reggae.
The Pier: I actually had a fan question submitted asking, ‘if you were ever going to ever do more hip hop oriented songs?’
Josh: I think that is the plan right now. There is a couple of different producers that I have been talking to. I have worked in the past with a guy named Monsieur Leroc, we have a project together we started about two years ago called The Bad and the Ugly. It’s definitely got some hip hop influences and some RnB and is maybe even influenced a little bit by Radiohead and Flaming Lips and stuff like that. We are going to start working on it again in November. We finally found a time when we both can do it and I can afford a ticket out to New York.
There is another hip hop producer called Factor, he is from Canada and his shit is amazing. A friend of mine is a friend of his and he gave me a bunch of beats he had been doing and it’s as good as Danger Mouse, Gnarls Barkley and Gorillaz stuff. He has never worked with a singer before, so my friend sent him stuff of mine and he really liked it. So hopefully we will be doing that soon, I really want to make that happen as soon as possible. I don’t want another singer to swoop him up, as the shit is too good.
I also want to get an RnB band together like a soul band, but that is probably going to be later down the road. I got a couple of musicians together that I have talked to about that, but I want to get a big 15-piece band, with a horn section and back-up singers and all of us wearing suits. That kind of stuff.
The plan is to work with other people. I like writing songs by myself, but I want to branch out. When you work with other people you can learn from them and that’s what I want to do.
The Pier: Speaking of working with others, you are producing the new 3rd Alley album right?
Josh: Yes sir, we are working on that right now. I think I can make this announcement official; Matt (Brein) the bass player from Bargain Music is going to be playing bass on the record. Not sure if he is joining the band, but they are actually practicing right now as we speak.
We got the drums recorded and are going into the studio later this month to record most of everything else. I am looking forward to that. There is some good songs coming out, Zack (Walters) is a good songwriter.
The Pier: So give us another exclusive, cause we are greedy here at The Pier. What are the new 3rd Alley songs like?
Josh: Oh yeah, it’s more rock ‘n’ roll and a more Elvis Costello and Squeeze kind of vibe going. There is some reggae rock on it, but not as much as the last album. I think people are going to like it. It’s just good shit. Their songwriting has definitely grown.
The Pier: So how did your involvement as a producer come around?
Josh: Well I have always had a hand in the Bargain Music stuff and when we were working on the newest record that was produced by me and my boy Transducer. That was my first time I was really hands on with production and I have learned a lot more about sound and equipment. I am still an idiot when it comes to that shit, but I enjoy trying new sounds.
My friend in San Diego who is in a band called The Wagons, was getting ready to record an EP a while ago, Transducer and I went and co-produced it and we just had a good time doing that. Ron our old merch/road manager guy for Bargain Music is managing 3rd Alley now and I guess they wanted me to do it. So I listened to some songs and I was stoked.
Further to his own music endeavors, Josh started things in the early 90s as a filmmaker, most notably for his work with Sublime. His most famous and time-consuming project is the outstanding Sublime documentary – Stories, Tales, Lies & Exaggerations. The documentary features in-depth interviews with all those close to Sublime. It’s a must watch for any Sublime fan, but due to the tragic event that lead to the documentary’s creation, even a casual fan as a human being will struggle through some of its emotional lows. Speaking with Josh he is obviously proud of the end result, yet it is also apparent the whole experience was also painful to live through.
The Pier: Let’s talk about your filmmaking now. So what was it like putting the Sublime documentary together?
Josh: Fucking rough man. Trying to get all those dudes to agree to a time and place, c’mon man.
The Pier: Haha, yeah I can imagine. So how long did that whole project take then?
Josh: Front to back, the day I finished shooting it was a year and three months and it was constant. I edited that thing and it took me about five months. I would only leave my house to go to the store - that was it. Once a day, no movies or going out. It was intense.
It’s a trippy thing you know? At that time Brad’s death was real close to home. It was just so there. It has been 10 years now and the look in people’s eyes isn’t there as it was back then - thank god. It was real tough for some of the people who got interviewed to do it and so soon after Brad’s death too.
It was hard for me as well. To look at this guy 12 hours a day and like have Brad’s dad come over to my house when I had a rough cut ready. It wasn’t easy for him either, no one.
The Pier: Oh that would have been rough, so how did it come about you doing that documentary then?
Josh: My brother (Zach) worked for the record label Gasoline Alley that signed Sublime and they became a part of MCA. I remember before they even signed Sublime, when Jon Phillips first brought Sublime in, my brother Zach gave me 40z to Freedom for Christmas. My experience was the same as for many people when first listening to it, ‘holy shit!’ I was hanging out with them and trying to get to go to as many shows as I could. I was actually living in New York at the time, so whenever I came back to Cali I would just try to go to as many Sublime shows as possible.
I started video-taping shows so I could go home and watch their shows, as they weren’t touring at that point. So I already had a bunch of stuff and people liked the way that I shot it. We worked it out so I went on tour with them on the Warped Tour and I shot seven or eight shows. So it kind of all just happened naturally.
I remember when after Brad died and they were going to do the What I Got video, I got to be an assistant director on that and I actually shot a lot of the stuff that is in that video. So when it came to me doing the documentary it just made sense.
The Pier: Do you get asked what Sublime was like live all the time then?
Josh: Yeah kids ask me questions like that all the time. Cause Sublime has a whole bunch of fans and the vast majority of them never saw them play live. It’s kind of a trippy thing, I don’t think there has been a band that had that situation happen to them.
The Pier: I can’t think of one off the top of my head. Yeah you’re right. You more recently did the Fishbone, Date Rape video clip. I have got to ask about that as they are one of my all-time favorite bands. That looked like it would have been a fun video shoot?
Josh: Oh yeah that was a blast. It was done in a ‘get it done quick style’ cause we didn’t have much of a budget, but we wanted to make it look as good as possible. That’s why there is no sets or anything, we just shot it in a warehouse where it was dark and would look cool. I love the Fishbone guys. That’s another band I grew up loving and had every Fishbone album.
Norwood (Fisher) the bassist and I have become really good friends over the past couple of years and that has been really cool. Actually his side project Trulio Disgracias is working on a new album and I contributed some vocals to that.
For the next 10 minutes Josh and I chat about our love for Fishbone. Towards the end of the conversation we get to talking about the similarities between Fishbone and Bargain Music, one of which is that even though neither band has sold a shitload of albums, both band’s music is so strong it can still make a huge impact on an individual and that love can go both ways.
Josh: I have met a lot of bands throughout the years and toured with a lot of bands and there is some bands that are really great with their fans, like Fishbone, and some bands that don’t really care. I remember there was a musician who I ran into the airport, ah I can’t think of who it was. And I was, ‘hey man I just want to say I’m a musician too.’ You see I have no problem going up to someone and saying that I like their music because I know it means a lot to mean when someone says that and it doesn’t matter who it is. Now this guy couldn’t care whether I lived or died and I just thought, ‘what a dick.'
Then I saw RZA from Wu-Tang Clan in the airport and I went up to him and said, ‘hey I am a huge fan and I’m not just a fan, but a musician too and I played the South By South West show with you too,’ and that didn’t matter to him. He was like, ‘I don’t care if you are a plumber from Missouri, if you like my music that’s all good.’ We ended up talking for about 10 minutes and the guy was as cool as fuck. You almost think he wouldn’t be like that.
The Pier: That’s awesome, cause there is some ‘too cool for school’ artists and then those also who don’t want to know you cause they are bitter about never getting the level of success they thought they deserved.
Josh: Yeah, you know I’d consider myself as someone that tried really hard and never became really successful at music. I am not bitter about it at all. I had a great fucking time playing in that band. Some of our best shows were when we played in front of five people.
I remember we played this one show in Portland and we were on tour with our friends the Sound of Urchin and it was a 2,000 people theatre and we were really worried about it cause we had never drawn more than a hundred in Portland before. We got there and there was no promotion done at all, so three people turned up for a 2,000 person venue!
So it was us, Sound of Urchin, the three people who came to the show, the bartender, the lighting guy, the sound guy and two security guys. So at first we weren’t sure if we were going to play, but we decided to rock the shit for those three people. We did the whole thing with the lighting, big sound system and played for over 2 hours. It was one of the best shows we ever played. These three people really want to be here, so we took advantage of that huge stage and big lighting and sound systems. It rocked.
The Pier: Awesome. I’m guessing those three people will never forget that show. So you have some solo concert dates coming up. What’s the go there? Are you still going to play Bargain Music material or is this now going to be all new stuff?
Josh: You know what? This is kind of a sad story. I played an acoustic show just recently in Long Beach. I told the crowd at the beginning I was going to play some Bargain songs but not Raking Leaves or Black Eye. Basically not any of the real popular stuff because we played those songs every night, 200 nights a year for eight years. So I need a break from these songs and it’s not like I’m not going to play these songs at all anymore, but over the next few months I am just going to play more obscure Bargain songs and new songs. Halfway through the fucking set half the crowd left.
I thought about it and I told myself I need to get over that, I’m not playing shows every night anymore and people want to hear these songs. So I might not play Black Eye at every show, but I am still going to play it. I think the plan for the future is for whatever new project I get done first, we will be ready to tour on it. I am probably going to do double duty. I will do the new band stuff and an acoustic set of Bargain Music songs. That way I will keep everybody happy.
So it seems there will still be much life in the Bargain Music, yet Josh’s fans can expect some new exciting projects in the near future too. It sounds like the perfect balance.
Thanks to Josh for spending so much time talking to us and giving us such thoughtful and honest answers (as well as some kick ass photos of him in Montana). I am sure The Pier readers would have got as much pleasure out of reading it as I did conducting the interview. Show him some love on any of his web-sites listed below.
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