Josh Dodes: Press/Reviews

"Josh is an amazing keyboardist. He came into our session very prepared, worked quickly and efficiently and got the job done. Working with many musicians in my career, he was one of the best I've come across. He brought the music to another level. I consider him to be one of the top rising keyboardists in the music business."

"One to watch."

"Josh is an awesome musician with an instantaneous ear for the parts. The only thing that rivals his playing ability is his personality."

"Josh is first of all a fantastic player with chops for days. But what really sets him apart as a musician is his very musical sensibility and ability to serve the goals of the song. On top of that, his professionalism and cheerful humor make every session a pleasure. Josh has a permanent place on our sideman short list."

""One of the most promising talents to pop up in ages... destined for big things."

"Josh is right on target, always prepared when given music in advance and if I feel like throwing in a new tune, he's right on it. Josh is an accomplished, versatile bad ass."

The following is an interview I did with the popular music site Fresh Tracks Music in 2005, answering questions about everything from "Bands on the Run" to making the switch from frontman to sideman.
Josh Dodes making waves as a sideman by Lindsay Allen

Fresh Tracks Music: It’s now been more than three years since we saw you on VH-1’s Bands on the Run. Several years removed from the experience, how do you feel about it? Did it do anything to help/hurt your career?
Josh Dodes: Oh, it definitely helped us. It may not have done quite as much for us as we had hoped it would, but I certainly can't complain. Most of all, it created a huge boost in name recognition which lasts to this day. That gave us some really cool opportunities. We got to tour all over the eastern half of the country, got dates at good clubs in cities we'd never even played before. Maybe more important, it allowed us to land some high-profile opening slots, for artists like Avril Lavigne, Duncan Sheik, Pat Benatar, The B-52's, Alana Davis, and funk legend Maceo Parker. And it was much easier for us to get heard at record labels, too -- which ironically ended up speeding up a process that probably would have taken much longer to end the same way -- alas, being politely passed over for lack of ‘hit singles.’ Still, better to get that response sooner than later. Some people always live with the ‘if only I could get heard’ thing.

The bottom line is that you just can't pay for the kind of publicity VH1 provided us. Even now, as a sideman, session player, and songwriter, it's been a lot easier for me to get heard than I think it would be otherwise. To be sure, only hard work, talent and being easy to work with can get you through the door at the end of the day, but name recognition can get you up the front steps to where you can at least knock, and you can't underestimate the importance of that.

FTM: Did it do anything to help/hurt the band dynamic?
JD: I do think the show hurt the band dynamic, but that wasn't the show's fault. The problem was that a couple of members of that lineup basically assumed that once they were on TV, they wouldn't still have to work their asses off on the road for very little money, as all unsigned bands -- and many signed ones I've gotten to know -- have to do. The rest of us had much more realistic expectations, which is why, for example, it wasn't a surprise or the end of the world for me to continue losing thousands of dollars a year on the band, which I survived by temping full-time, working overtime, etc., while these couple of guys could complain about the fact that they weren't making as much as they wanted. This is an old story, it happens all the time when some members of a band are willing to work harder than others. Anyhow, it all ended up working out for the best, since we ultimately ended up with guys who were better musicians in addition to being, you know, adult.

FTM: That being said, would you do it again? Why or why not?
JD: From a professional standpoint, there's no question that I would. It was only positive from that standpoint, even if it didn't get us signed or rich. From a personal standpoint, though, I'm not so sure. I'm someone who's really comfortable in the spotlight or whatever when I'm on stage, but I'm pretty private everywhere else. So it was really stressful for me to be in that kind of fishbowl when we were offstage during the tour. It's hard to imagine how weird and anxiety-producing it is to have a gigantic camera trained on you every waking moment.

FTM: Were you surprised that Flickerstick’s victory on the show really didn’t seem to do that much for the band’s career? Why or why not?
JD: Yeah, I was surprised that they didn't take off more dramatically, but I probably shouldn't have been. The thing is, I think we all learned the same lesson to different extents after the show: even a relatively successful TV show cannot do what a radio single, and serious label support behind it, can do to push your career forwards. Flickerstick was certainly the most radio-friendly of the four bands on the show, but ultimately, though they got onto pop radio, even they didn't really have a hit single. That said, I think they're probably doing okay. After all, three years on, they seem to be the only one of the four bands that's still pressing on and playing regularly... no small accomplishment, as I know first-hand.

FTM: Why do you think VH-1 hasn’t attempted another season of the show?
JD: I'm not really sure, but my assumption has always been that they must have lost a lot of money on it. I know that it was the most expensive show they had ever done, between production and promotion and all of that, and to be honest, I think they misgauged their audience. The decision to cut out most of the music in favor of the melodrama probably would have worked great on MTV, which has an audience more interested in that kind of stuff, what with the Real World, Road Rules, all of that. But VH1 has always said, you know, ‘Music First,’ and I think their audience has actually come to expect it. Of course, Monday-morning quarterbacking is pretty easy from here. I'm sure they had plenty of reasons to believe it would work out better.

FTM: The Josh Dodes Band we saw on BOTR was just one incarnation of the band. How long did JDB exist, and how many different lineups were there?
JD: How much time do you have? I've never sat down to figure it out, but let's just say that Adrian and I often lovingly referred to it as the Josh Dodes Revolving Door Band. It's funny, I remember how surprised I was to see online that we had ‘broken up’ when the lineup changed in late 2001! What our longtime fans knew, and I guess a lot of Bands on the Run fans didn't, is that the JDB captured on VH1 was neither the first nor the last version of the band. It was one of a number of different lineups that put their own stamp on this body of material I've written. This never felt like a big deal until that particular TV snapshot was taken.

The thing is, it's unbelievably hard to find people willing to put years into a band that isn't making big money through label advances or by playing covers. Aside from a small handful of people we were happy to part ways with, the vast majority of friends and colleagues I've played with under the JDB name are people who simply came and went because they were available for different lengths of time, and then they weren't. Take someone like Rena Desai--one of the coolest, most talented musicians I've ever known. Here's a woman who performed with me for a few years, sang her ass off on ‘Get Up,’ and then left to go to medical school! I mean, how can you argue with that? Let's just say that in the 7+ years I used the umbrella name Josh Dodes Band, I felt humbled to have so many great people willing to huddle under it with me, even if they could only be there for a while.

FTM: What ultimately led to the band’s demise (i.e. was there a particular event? who made the decision to call it quits? when did that happen?)?
JD: It was just sort of time, you know? We had been at this for a long time, particularly Adrian and I, and we were getting to a point where even the best moments on stage weren't making up for the frustrations of being an indie band without a lot of help. We had a good run, and we decided to end it with sort of a bang instead of a whimper. So we had a great big farewell show at the Bitter End in New York City last July to put a cap on it. We had a blast.

FTM: Do you still talk to -- or even perform with -- anyone from JDB (other than yourself, of course)?
JD: Oh, absolutely. The most obvious is Adrian, who has become one of my best friends in the world, so I see her all the time. She was even a ‘groomswoman’ in my wedding last year! We've just got great chemistry, personally and musically... I think it's probably pretty obvious to anyone who's seen us play or interact in the last few years how much we care about each other. She's really just the best thing that ever happened to the band and one of the best things that's ever happened to me personally. So I kind of like Adrian a little bit.

I'm also still very much in touch with Adam Blau, our longtime keyboardist and a great friend. He's moved out to L.A. to pursue film scoring--people should check out what he's up to at www.adamblau.com. I haven't talked to Maiya in ages, but she's definitely someone I consider a lifetime friend. She's one of the kindest people and best musicians I've ever known. If there's any justice in the world, that woman will end up both famous and rich.

I'm a lucky guy. I've gotten the chance to work and play with some pretty wonderful people over the last several years, and I try to keep in touch with as many of them as I can.

FTM: You’ve kind of gotten out of the full-time ‘performing singer/songwriter’arena and have started doing more work with/for other musicians. What kinds of projects have you worked on, and what are you currently working on? Any exciting things coming up in the near future?
JD: Yea, you know, as much as I enjoyed doing my own stuff, I have to say that I've never been as happy or as challenged musically as I am right now. I got asked by Maceo Parker to tour as his organist for a couple months [in 2003], and I couldn't do it because I was getting married, but it just sort of planted the seed in my head -- you know, maybe there's other stuff out there for me musically. But the shock has been how quickly I've been able to make stuff happen in the last few months. And such cool projects -- I've gotten to record and play and write for this wide variety of great artists in very little time. Everything from pop-rock to progressive, folkier stuff, funkier stuff, a little bit of everything.

I'm also kind of on the short list for three or four different major-label artists thinking about adding keyboards for their tours, but I'd rather not get into the details without knowing anything for sure. I'm excited about the possibilities, though.

FTM: What is it that makes your new path more enjoyable than what you were previously doing?
JD: I guess there's really four things. Probably the most important is that, by and large, I no longer have to deal with the stress of being in charge, from a logistical standpoint. It's exhausting to kind of be everything from CEO to Mail Boy, and I'm really happy not to have to worry about that anymore. The second thing is that I'm mostly just playing keyboards with these different artists, rather than singing. I've never considered myself a real singer, except by default, so it's great to be able to focus all my energies on what I do best. I enjoy being a role player much more than I thought I would. The third thing is that I'm learning from every different musical experience I'm having, that's something I stopped feeling a while ago with my own project. I'm forced to think in all these different ways now. And finally, I'd be lying if I didn't say that after years of losing big money, it's nice to just show up, play as well as I can, have fun, get paid, and go home.

FTM: Are you still writing material for yourself? How often do you do live performances of your own material? And where -- geographically speaking?
JD: Well, I've written a lot since last summer, but I've got very few songs that I don't think someone else could do better, so I'm probably going to try to find them other homes. While I've done a little writing with and for other artists this year, my big focus for the coming year will be on trying to make headway in the writing world. If I could get a publishing deal to go with my sideman and session work, I'd be a very happy man. And yes, I'm still playing the occasional solo college show. But that's a pretty tough nut to crack -- I'd definitely do it more if the opportunity arose.

FTM: Would you ever consider fronting your own band again? Why or why not?
JD: I never thought I would say this, but I just don't miss being the frontman at all. I can't tell you how much I enjoy being a position player. I guess it's possible that somewhere down the road, I might consider it, I would never say never, but I don't really miss it.

FTM: And now for the fun questions...

Your trademark bald head: Done by a razor, by Mother Nature or, perhaps, a little of column A and a little of column B?
JD: As far as I know, I'm not balding -- not that there would be anything wrong with that. Some of my best friends are balding people. Anyhow, I'm a pretty serious devotee of the Mach 3 Turbo. I love that product in ways that are probably not healthy. Not incidentally, my favorite Onion headline of all time is the article supposedly written by the CEO of Gillette called, ‘Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Blades.’

Inspired by one of my favorite radio stations (WTMD in Towson, Md. -- I faithfully stream it from 8-5 on workdays), I’m asking my interviewees to reflect on the best debut albums of all time. WTMD recently counted down the top 89, as voted on by listeners; the top five included Led Zeppelin’s ‘Led Zeppelin I’ (No. 1), Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Are You Experienced?’ Elvis Costello’s ‘My Aim is True,’ The Beatles’ ‘Please Please Me’ and Counting Crows’ ‘August and Everything After’ (No. 5) (you can see the entire list at http://www.wtmd.org/debutdefault.htm). What would your votes have been for the top five?
JD: Wow -- tough question! In no particular order except the first one:

Marc Cohn, ‘Marc Cohn’
Ben Folds Five, ‘Ben Folds Five’
Bruce Hornsby and the Range, ‘The Way It Is’
John Mayer, ‘Room for Squares’
The Police, ‘Outlandos D'Amour’

For what it's worth, I also had a damn hard time eliminating Soul Coughing (‘Ruby Vroom’) and Counting Crows (‘August and Everything After’).

On a somewhat related note, what were your five favorite new songs in 2004? (Obscurity is acceptable -- my top 5 included songs by Jem, REM, Mike Errico, Keane, and Rilo Kiley)
JD:
1. Come Around - Marc Broussard
2. Save Me - Marc Broussard
3. This Love - Maroon5
4.. Never Coming Home - Sting
5. Mirror on the Wall - Bruce Hornsby

©2005 Fresh Tracks Music