Interview // Joey Gonzalez - Psydeshow
Our last guest Tony Garcia (check out his interview) recommended that we listen to and lure in Psydeshow (Joey Gonzalez) as our next guest. We took a listen and this man is an artist through an through. His stage name/image as Psydeshow is a gritty and dark persona which the music matches to the point.
Joey G. speaks to us about his journey through the release of his first EP, reminding us that he's by no means a one man show and gives us a deeper look into his stage persona, without further a due:
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Hello Joey, welcome we're glad to have you as our second interview! You've been referred to us by Tony Garcia from The Vox Arcanum, we took a listen to your record on Spotify 'Testimony of Freak' which was released around a year ago. I really dig it! Can you tell us a little about that release? Walk us through your journey.
Joey Gonzalez: Man, making that record was a trip. I initially wrote and recorded "I'm Fine. No, Really." at school for my music production final, which caught the interest of an artist by the name of Social Anxiety (Armando). He heard my track through a mutual friend who shared the link on her wall and I got a message from him asking if I'd be willing to open up a show for him. But the problem was, I literally only had that one track, so I hit up my homie ZiLO (Adrian), who was taking that class with me, and we started working on what would become Testimony. I decided that I wanted to throw people for loop and do an acoustic track to end the EP. Armando said he knew someone and brought in Tony from TVA to write and record with me. We wrote our track Rotten Inside together in about 4 or 5 hours and recorded it in about 2 sessions. I love performing that song with him, we really mesh well together on stage! Anyway, the whole process took about 3 or 4 months in total and I got some vocal assistance from my homegirls, Bella and Vivian, who really took the record to a new level. Vivian has a dope verse on "Earthquake" and Bella sings (beautifully) on a couple of the original tracks, as well as on the Korn cover. All in all, I loved making the EP with such talented people and I can't wait to see what life has in store for me next. Even though I'm essentially a one-man show, there is no way in hell that I'd ever be able to make this music alone, so to everyone who helped out during that entire process or even took the time to listen to the music, thank you so much!
That's awesome, going from having just one song, someone really liking it and asking you/helping you to put out more, that's a big compliment. Going back to the music, I really like the production on it, it sounds really great in my car, headphones, home speakers which is something that rarely happens for an independent release. Getting the mix just right is never easy was that ZiLO's doing? And if it not, did he help with the production at all?
Joey G: Thanks a lot! Yeah, I agree, it definitely bumps! Haha I remember we tested it all over the place: in the studio, at shows on the PA before anyone showed up, but it had to pass the car test every time. When we started production on the beats, ZiLO had a few ideas he'd brought to the table and we pretty much worked from a bunch of skeletons he'd had sitting in his laptop. I had a hand in some of the process, like adding a lot of the percussion and some synth riffs here and there. But my man Adrian definitely deserves the credit for building a dark but rhythmic atmosphere for me to write to. As for the mixing/mastering, that was Social Anxiety's doing! He gave the tracks an incredible vibe and made me sound better than I actually do! Haha
It's very apparent that Image is something you take seriously, why did you feel the need to change your persona, to create Psydeshow?
Joey G: You know, it's sounds funny, but I actually didn't really feel like I "created" another persona with the PsydeShow look. I just kind of gathered influences from all around like Slipknot, Batman villains (most notably, Joker), even horror movies, and brought it to my stage show. I've always dressed...differently, I guess would be the best way to put it. I wear my sclera and zombie lenses almost daily, so it wasn't much to just throw together an outfit I felt confident enough to get up on stage with. I figured I look freaky enough without everything on anyway, might as well give the folks a real show. I altered an old jacket I got from an army surplus store and threw a bunch of paint on it, slapped some buttons on the thing and called it a day. The mask was a gift from my very good friend Leo out in AZ who's a dope cosplayer! Check out his IG: @midnight_costuming! I gave him an idea for the design and he rolled with it. I couldn't ask for a cooler face, man. It's definitely better than the one I wear every other day. Hahaha
You pull it all off really naturally and, like you said, it's who you are plus some added face paint. I've seen you perform at least once and you definitely put on a show it's also a plus when you bring up one of your featured artists. What're your plans for the future? I'm sorry for my ignorance but are there any major releases due to drop soon?
Joey G: I really appreciate you saying that, dude! And thank you so much for getting me my first show ever, by the way! Loved playing with so many talented people that night, it was an incredible first experience on stage. Despite almost crashing into my homie's kit, I feel like I rocked it. Haha I've done a lot of growing as an artist and person in the past year, since I put out Testimony, so it's always interesting thinking back on this stuff. Really gives one a sense of perspective, I feel. If there's any piece of advice I could give to people, it'd be go for whatever it is you've been thinking about doing. Dye your hair, ask that girl/guy out, buy those tickets to that show, because you literally never know what the future holds. I know for a fact that my life has changed for the better, directly because I (a talentless nobody) made the decision to start creating art. Haha I've met some amazing artists/people through this craft, and I wouldn't change a single moment for a damn thing. So about that...haha. I've been focusing pretty heavily on my photography these past couple of semesters in school, and because of that, I really haven't had too much time to focus on music. The most recent track I put out, entitled "What Is Life?" has some of my favorite writing thus far. I purchased a beat for a contest I had every intention on entering, but was unable to film the video requirement for (due to scheduling conflicts). So I decided to record the track in one take and put it out, anyway. You can find that on my SoundCloud, if you're interested in checking it out. Other than that, I've got material written for months, it's just about getting the musicians together to pull it off. I'm in talks with some really talented people, though, so whenever that next release drops, it'll be my very best material for sure! Oh, and I'm also really excited to get back out there with a slightly newer aesthetic and sound. I've been hard at work, trying to get these ideas to manifest into a physical form for some time now, so it'll be really awesome to re-introduce myself, so to speak.
Joey, it's been a pleasure speaking to you, I actually forgot that was your first ever show! It was fun and you killed it, good times. Thank you for doing this interview, as a final goodbye, are there any musicals you'd like to throw our way? Anyone you would love to see get interviewed by The Collective?
Joey G: I've really enjoyed doing this interview, man, thank you very much for the opportunity! Yeah, I actually would like to see you guys hit up my buddies in Little Band of Gold, I love their sound a lot!
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Check out Psydeshows EP 'Testimony of a Freak' here:
