Josh Savage has been stirring up the music industry for almost ten years. Not a big record company, but an own label. No management in the background, but an independent artist who manages himself. It is apt to say: Josh follows a different path than most singer/songwriters. The inspiring story of a man who played his way into the hearts of many people around the world with living room concerts – and in 2022 performing as an opening act of Robbie Williams in front of 100,000 spectators. A few weeks after his performance in Munich, I spoke to Josh.
“All I wanted to do was travel and play music,” Josh tells me about his beginnings. After studying music at the University of York in England, he did a so-called gap year. He wanted to “visit as much of the world as possible and play as many shows as possible”. In 2013, he booked his own shows without further ado and went on tour in England: The start was made. “It went a lot better than I expected. So, I did one more year and another one…,” says the indie pop singer/songwriter. About ten years and over 700 concerts later, “and I’m still on my gap year,” Josh adds with a laugh in conversation.
Since then, the British-born has travelled to four continents, playing 79 shows in America and Europe in five months in 2015. Living room concerts, live, just him and his guitar – especially at the beginning it was a challenge, he remembers. “If you play in a living room it’s generally very small,” there are only a few people in the room, and it is not possible to hide anything, Josh explains. “Especially if I’m playing solo and I can see the facial expressions, and I’m like: ‚O my god, do they like my songs or not?‘ That’s kind of terrifying.” On the other hand, this experience has helped him for other concerts in terms of his stage presence. Finally, Josh acted as support for Kodaline (All I Want) in 2019.
If he had to start from scratch again today, he would do everything the same way again, Josh says in retrospect. “What I love about my journey – even if it might have taken some time – it’s human and I loved getting to meet my fans all around the world and experiencing the cities as a local.” The 31-year- old tells me that many of his followers showed him their cities and that he slept on some of their sofas. “I guess that’s why I’ve been doing this for so long. It’s absolutely priceless.”
Josh Savage: Debut album released during corona pandemic – “Thought my career was over”
That he could one day make a living from music was always a dream. “That’s why I give it everything I can”, he says. After a few stops in Paris and London, the Briton finally moved to Berlin. With the song Skinny Dipping, he appeared in the ZDF morning magazine in 2020 – unaware that the coronavirus pandemic should turn everything upside down. Josh released his debut album The Long Way Round at the end of March. The tour of the same name became more or less The Longest Way Round. It had to be postponed several times. “Very depressing“ for the singer/songwriter who works with his own label (Savage Tribe Records) – “especially because of the amount of work that went in”.
But due to corona, lockdowns and contact restrictions hard times began for the artist as for many in the music industry: “Suddenly I had no income anymore. I was playing four to five shows a week before the pandemic and that was taken away. That was a huge shock. I honestly thought my career was over,” Josh tells me. Eventually, he began to stay afloat with music lessons – and released a new song the same year. Dakota reached over 100,000 views on Spotify within a month.
Album Another Life by Josh Savage is inspired by love letters
In 2022 Josh Savage went on tour with his album Another Life. Credit: Bud Johnson Photography
In April and May 2021, the songs Young Fools and In Too Deep followed. Both eventually appeared on his current album Another Life. A “love album” based on love letters he wrote with his girlfriend on the other side of the ocean. “I met this girl and we started writing letters to each other. We did that for some time and met all around the world.” He was already living in Berlin, she in New York. When the pandemic began, the two were separated over a six-month period. She eventually moved from New York to Berlin for him.
Based on the letters, Josh began writing songs. “It’s funny because in my early days I said I’ll never write a song with the word ‘love’ in it. It’s way too cheesy. Then when I started writing those songs I realised: ‘Oh, sh*t, I can’t find a replacement. I’m gonna have to go back on my initial word.’ So I wrote very personal and intimate songs.”
In 2022 Josh Savage went on tour with his album Another Life. Credit: Bud Johnson Photography
In April and May 2021, the songs Young Fools and In Too Deep followed. Both eventually appeared on his current album Another Life. A “love album” based on love letters he wrote with his girlfriend on the other side of the ocean. “I met this girl and we started writing letters to each other. We did that for some time and met all around the world.” He was already living in Berlin, she in New York. When the pandemic began, the two were separated over a six-month period. She eventually moved from New York to Berlin for him.
Based on the letters, Josh began writing songs. “It’s funny because in my early days I said I’ll never write a song with the word ‘love’ in it. It’s way too cheesy. Then when I started writing those songs I realised: ‘Oh, sh*t, I can’t find a replacement. I’m gonna have to go back on my initial word.’ So I wrote very personal and intimate songs.”
Headline tour, Snow Patrol and Robbie Williams: Josh Savage takes off in 2022
When the world returned more and more to normal life in 2022 against the backdrop of the pandemic, many rules and measures were repealed, nothing stood in the way of Josh’s tour. With his debut album and Another Life in a double pack, he made up for his tour through Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Shortly afterwards, Josh supported the band Snow patrol (Chasing Cars) on their own tour through Germany. And it did not take long for world-famous star Robbie Williams to literally knock on his door.
The hard work paid off, explains Josh, who has made a number of contacts in recent years. “One of those contacts put me forward for this gig, put me forward in front of Robbie Williams. And he said, he loved it and ‘let’s get him on stage’. That was a massive honour.“ Performing at Messe Munich as the opening act of Robbie Williams was an “amazing high” and a dream come true. After almost ten years, and especially after Covid, he was simply speechless about this possibility and it took a few days to come down to earth, he looks back.
Josh Savage: New single Bella and NFT collection Love Letters
Since then, Josh has continued at full throttle. It’s been “crazy times” since the big concerts, he says with a laugh. On September 9th, his new single Bella was released. At the same time, he is working on a NFT collection called Love Letters, which consists of 888 pieces. “When I sell this out, I’ll be the first British independent and unsigned artist who has sold out a music-NFT of this size”, Josh explains.
NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) are still relatively new to the music industry. Among them, you can imagine digital collectibles that fans can buy via tokens. The artist decides what he wants to offer his fans (music videos, audio files or similar). If you buy a NFT, you buy a product of the artist digitally – without taking the detour via middlemen. In the music industry, for example, Kings of Leon or Shawn Mendes have worked with music NFTs.
In addition to his new collection, Josh wants to continue to focus on writing and recording in the coming weeks and months – and pursue his goals. “To support Coldplay and sell out my first thousand capacity show,” these are his dreams for the future. But he can also imagine continuing to play living room concerts, he explains. “Playing with my band is more fun but it’s good to go more intimate with living room shows, too. It depends on my mood,” he says smiling. Currently, his time is very short but interested parties can contact him any time (info@joshsavagemusic.com), Josh adds.
