Please introduce and tell us a little about yourself.

My name is Joshua Hyslop. I'm a singer-songwriter based out of Vancouver, BC. I'm currently signed to Nettwerk Records and I'm working on my fifth studio album.

When did you first start playing guitar? When did you realize being a musician was something you wanted to do as a career?

I didn't pick up a guitar until I was about 16. My family moved to Scotland for a year and I had a pretty tough time adjusting. School was tough so I was looking for something to dive into and along came guitar. Someone had given my dad a classical guitar years earlier but I'd never paid it much notice. Music provided the perfect escape for me. My dad showed me G, C and D and I was hooked. I never took lessons. I just spent all my time learning by ear. I'd play old vinyl records in my parents basement and try to play along. I sounded horrible for a very long time but eventually I started figuring it out. A friend of mine was also learning by ear at the time so we formed a band very much in line with a Simon & Garfunkel-esque feel and tried to write our own songs. For some reason we really believed in ourselves and we made a 13 track demo CD with a friend of ours. The whole thing took us about 13 hours and you could hear dogs barking in the background and his parents flushing the toilet upstairs, it was very amateur. Somehow we sold them all and one got into the hands of a producer who worked with some pretty big acts for Universal Music. They offered us a record deal which, looking back, was a pretty bad deal. It didn't matter because we turned it down mostly out of fear, but also my friend had decided to quit the band and go travel since we were just out of high school. I think their interest kind of sparked something in me that made me think I could make a proper go of it. It wasn't for another six years, when I was 24 that my shot with Nettwerk came along.

Where do you get inspiration for your songwriting?

 I get my inspiration for my songs from a variety of sources. Sometimes they're autobiographical, at least to an extent. Sometimes I'm inspired by conversations I have with friends and I try to write their stories. I read a lot and I try to keep up a daily journal so I'm filling my head with words and continually writing even if it's not lyrics. I can't remember who said it, but there's a great quote about writers and how they're always writing even if they're not holding a pen. I like that a lot. I think my job is to be a bit of a sponge and then to try and reflect back what I've absorbed and articulate it in a way that hopefully makes sense to people.

Pre-Covid, you had spent the better part of two years on the road touring. What are some highs and lows of touring?

Touring is one of those things that you look back on with fondness but it can be such a drag when you're actually doing it. Sometimes you get lucky and it's a lot of fun. I've toured on buses, in vans and in very small cars. I've toured as the opener and as the headliner. I've toured solo and with a band. The best part of touring is playing the actual show, especially when you're with a band. It's an untouchable feeling when it goes well. Sometimes you get into arguments after being on the road together and sharing hotel rooms for weeks at a time, but usually, especially in our 30's, we've all been doing it long enough that we know when to take space and when to give it. Most of the "lows" I can think of occur when I'm touring solo and that's just because it can be so damn lonely. In 2019 I did a coast to coast tour in a 1989 Volvo Wagon that my dad and I built a bed and little kitchenette in. I lived in the car so I wouldn't have to book any hotels. I drove a little over 15,500 km by myself and played 20 shows from Vancouver Island to Cape Breton and back in under a month. Sometimes the solitude was very welcome and sometimes solitude turned sour and was simply loneliness. Still, I love touring. I love playing live music and connecting with people. A room full of strangers gathering to quietly engage with one person's art is a very humbling and human thing, and it makes my heart beat faster every time.

What are some of your favourite venues to perform?

 I've played a couple hundred house shows and slept over at dozens and dozens of people's homes and those are almost always very special gigs. But as far as actual venues go, The Artery in Edmonton was one of the best but it closed down. The owner's new spot, The Aviary is just cutting its teeth and it's in very good hands. I stop there every chance I get. The Blacksheep Inn in Wakefield, QC is one of Canada's gems. Mills Hardware in Hamilton is great. The Paradiso and The Paradiso Noord in Amsterdam is incredible. The Bank Hall in Troy, NY is another amazing spot. I once played a show in Germany in a Castle with beer on tap, and another in Germany at a place that had a built in sauna that we used after the show. I love Zanzabar in Kentucky, and it's always nice to play at a City Winery in Chicago or New York. Before COVID there were still a lot of wonderful venues but it was getting harder for mid-small level spots to stay open. Since COVID a lot of really amazing places have had to close down. I'm really hoping for an artistic revival, or venue revolution of some kind when all this is over. 

How has Covid affected you and what are some ways you have been able to keep playing music?

COVID effectively put a stop to more than half of my income. I hadn't been home for a full year in a decade. I'd usually average 4-5 months a year, sometimes 6-7 on the road. All of a sudden I'm at home for 12, 13, 14 months and counting. In some ways that was a blessing in disguise because my wife and I had our first child in April, 2020. Right at the beginning of the first lockdown. So we were stuck at home anyway. But touring is just a part of my job and it's strange to still not have anything lined up. I've been playing live shows on my Instagram and on my Facebook page every once in a while. I do those by donation through PayPal so people can chip in if they're able and want to. It kind of feels like being paid to practice because I'm just alone in my music room looking at my phone. It's definitely not the same as playing live. But I also started a Patreon page and I offer exclusive content on there every month.

 Looking forward, what is next for you?

 Up next, I'm going to be heading back into Afterlife Studios here in Vancouver to work with John Raham who is an amazing producer and a killer drummer, not to mention one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet, to record my fifth album. I'm still writing some of it but it's about half done so we're going to start tracking the beginning of May. After that I'm very hopeful that touring to some capacity will be possible again. If so, I'll be on and off the road. If not, I'll be at home writing and singing into my phone until it's safe to get back on stage.

To find more from Joshua, you can visit his website here, or find him on Instagram here.

To listen to more of Joshua’s music, you can find him on Spotify here.

Photos were taken at Afterlife Studios in Vancouver, BC, by John Yoo .