Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Mach.
Hi Joe, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up singing in choirs and learned piano and violin at an early age and come from a musical family (my Dad played upright bass in a polka band called The Czech Mates). In high school, I switched to guitar and fell in love with writing and arranging demos on a 4-track DAT recorder as a way to express the complicated teenage emotions that had no other outlet. I created my own major in Music Business and after college turned down a cushy production job with MTV to pursue my pop rock band, Hotspur, full time. Through 7 years of hard-earned promoting and touring, Hotspur became one of the biggest acts in the DC area–selling out the 9:30 Club, playing Warped Tour and eventually signing a record deal with Mitch Allan of SR-71. The band recorded a big glossy EP and did a name change/glam-rock overhaul and in the process lost the precious spark… The band broke-up (2012) and I got married and moved to Austin, TX.
My first years in Austin were split doing Pop co-writing sessions in LA, and it wasn’t until going through a divorce and spiritual awakening three years later that I found my footing in the Austin music scene, delivering heartfelt Americana Soul tunes on a ’77 Guild acoustic. In 2019 I recorded my debut solo album, White Buffalo, with Daniel Watters at Gordy Quist’s Finishing School studios and began playing out regularly with a full band; cowboy hat, long hippie hair and a country accent–becoming just the kind of musician I thought Austin wanted me to be.
Fortunately, the great equalizer we call the pandemic came along and put the brakes on that train. I hung up the cowboy hat, shaved my head, and pulled the plug on the follow-up album I was working on (with JT Holt & Kalu James). The songs for the album were great and the production was funky and psychedelic but it just wasn’t me. I spent the rest of the pandemic in an artistic reset–discovering a talent for oil painting and focusing on music and songs to uplift a weary world. When 2021 rolled around, I found myself singing and performing mostly solo, and instead of trying to impress or please everyone with my music–I started bringing my unapologetically tender and real self to the stage for the first time. And it clicked into place.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Nothing smooth about it! Years touring as a small/regional band was pretty grueling; we played many, many shows to empty rooms and being the peacemaker keeping the band together for seven years took a toll on my health and personal life. Then to finally achieve the holy grail of landing a record deal, only to have it fall through and fizzle out; that was tough.
But the most difficult challenge was getting back onstage in a new city after not performing for over four years. Overcoming the inner resistance and all of the doubts and insecurities that came with it–I feel like I’m just now hitting my stride again as a performer and artist.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’ve spent the past four years doing some pretty intense inner work–meditation, Gestalt therapy, bio-energetics, dreamwork–and my songwriting has become intimately woven with these themes of self-realization and the human condition. So even if I’m writing a light-hearted or tongue-in-cheek kind of song, it ends up laced with a deep mysticism.
I’ve been writing songs for over 20 years now, and for much of that time, I had managers or band members breathing down my neck telling me “if you just write a hit, everything will be solved.” And so it is ingrained in me to write in such a way that the lyrics and melodies are accessible, impactful and memorable. My specialty is being able to write in a way that captures the deepest cut of emotion and heart but also gets stuck in your head.
And as a performer, I’ve become really focused on intimacy and connection–the sometimes unsettling soul-to-soul moments that make live music so unique. Whether there are three people or 300 no longer matters; I measure the success of my performance on how many hearts I touched.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
The pandemic was definitely a huge period of reset for me artistically–gave me a chance to really find my true voice and message. After all my live shows were canceled, I began performing a weekly live stream called “Songs For Humanity” where I played uplifting songs of peace and love. The more casual format gave me a chance to explore some improv-style singing; just going off about whatever was in my heart that week.
I also had the opportunity to perform several community concerts via zoom for recovering COVID patients through a company called MuzicRX–and found that through zoom, I was able to forge some of the same magical connective moments as in a live setting.
Contact Info:
- Email: Joe.mach@gmail.com
- Website: www.josephmach.com
- Instagram: @thejoemach
- Facebook: /thejoemach
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWTKdLCA7zQyOqdDkIJSluQ
Image Credits:
Meghan Kate Dwyer, Scott Robinson
