Q&A: Joe Ramsey
First of all, tell us about yourself, who are you and what do you do?
I’m Joe Ramsey and I’m an indie/folk singer/songwriter from Middlesbrough. I try and write songs which are relatable to everyone in a sense, whether that through personal experiences, or experiences people can find themselves in. My day job is working full time as a marketing exec and I also run my own Music PR company, with the aim of making my day job not just an office based Monday-Friday one.
Why did you choose to become a musician/songwriter?
I’ve always been involved in music from a very young age and surrounded by it from my parents. I started playing bass in a band in school from the age of 14/15 until I was around 20/21. After that, I decided to write myself under my own name which is something I always wanted to do in my the back of my mind. I then started writing for a few years and released a few songs then had a bit of a break (which I regret), and only started to take it more seriously over the past 18/24 months. Music has always been the sole ambition and I love playing live for an invested audience.
As a young musician/songwriter, who were some of your biggest inspirations?
Sting/The Police was a massive influence on me growing up, especially when I played bass in bands. I’d never heard anything like their sound and was fascinated by them. Through my late teens I was (still am) obsessed by John Mayer, i would class him as my absolute icon. Another big influence in my teens was Ben Howard, the way he played acoustic guitar and the rhythm he produced through his playing influenced me a lot, as he was also a left handed guitarist.
What do you feel is your biggest achievement in music so far?
Playing Hit the North festival among others, as well as selling out my hometown headline show a few months back. My biggest headline show to date is this Friday, so that may hopefully be my biggest achievement if all goes well!
What are your biggest aspirations within the music industry?
I would absolutely love to go on tour with an artist that I love or has influenced me in the past, and to embark on my own headline tour! This may not be related, but my aspiration is to make writing and performing my music my main occupation and way of living.
If you could go back and give yourself one piece of advice as a young musician/songwriter, what would it be and why?
Learn guitar sooner so you can shred (I can’t at all). I’ve also learnt this more recently, as long as you love the music you’re producing and that your circle/team around is (manager, friends) then that’s the main thing, and then there’s a good chance that other people will too!
Why is music education so important?
I’ve only got an insight into how the industry really works over the past 2 or so years and I’ve had some really bad experiences from it, which I came out stronger from. Learning from other artists and writers has been invaluable for me personally. I was never interested in the theoretical side of music, only writing and performing my music live in front of people!