Define your genre in five words or less:
Original acoustic indie folk.
Bearing the terrible clichéd nature of this question, what do you reckon people will say you sound like?
I’ve either likened myself or been likened to Bonnie Prince Billy, Daniel Johnston, Leonard Cohen, Smog, Ani Difranco, Joanna Newsom, Neutral Milk Hotel and rather unfortunately Mumford And Sons and Frank Turner (now an occasional hookup of an ex!).
If you could assassinate one person or band from popular music, who would it be and why?
Myself, because I’m that depressed. Nah jokes, my music isn’t popular.
What’ve you got to sell CD-wise?
Very little, my latest release was titled Free EP for one very obvious reason (and the slightly lesser double-meaning of having just come back from a liberating adventure on my own). But yeah, it was and is still free through joeforrester.bandcamp.com. After my next few shows I’ll be going into hiding to record my debut studio album from May.
When’s the gig and with who?
My last few shows before recording are a residency at the Great Britain Hotel, Sunday evenings in April from 7.30pm. I could seriously die at how lucky I’ve been with choosing my own support acts. They’re four of my absolute favourite local acts, and four acts that you really should check out. I’m sure every week I’ll be upstaged by my supports! Sun 7 is Gabriel Lynch, 14 is Bernie Carson, 21 is Big Seal and the Slippery Few, 28 is Beautiful Change.
Tell us about the last song you wrote.
Well, I was having sex with this girl who had a boyfriend. It didn’t last, I went crazy and I think there’s an intervention order pending. The day after we first hooked up however, I felt a youthful sense of joy at the total lack of responsibility, the senseless disregard for anything that ‘matters’. Obviously I’ve had to wrestle with a few demons about it since, but I was due to write a happy song (sometimes with my repertoire I really need one). So I wrote one about just that, how fun it all was, but only for that moment. That way I could still write a happy song, about a happy event, but overall still secretly know it was a sad song, as it only lasted for that small window of a few weeks, before the shit really hit the fan!
Name an interview question you wish someone would ask you, and answer it.
Q) Well Joe, what makes you happy?
A) *Storms off and leaves*
