From a bedroom jammer to Ellen’s wedding singer

Joshua Radin may not be a name familiar to a lot of people. But if you’ve watched television at least once in the last few years then you are more than likely to have come across some of his music.

His songs have appeared in television programmes like Grey’s Anatomy, Bones, American Idol and even Home and Away.

Some may be annoyed when producers overuse songs, telling viewers how to feel about the drama it’s supposed to be showing you.

But, it seems for Radin, there is a visual element to his songs - at least in his own head.

“Probably for one, I think visually when I write, I think cinematically. When I describe the songs I describe them visually so maybe certain people think they fit in with TV and film.”

The thing is, however, Joshua doesn’t ever watch television. He’s probably more then happy for his music to be played on whatever programme the producers like thereby exposing him to an ever-bigger audience.

In fact, it’s how he got his lucky break. In 2004, a friend of his passed on a demo of the first song he ever composed to a TV producer. The producer happened to work on the show Scrubs. Oh, and that friend just happened to be Zach Braff, who plays main character JD.

And amongst his biggest fans are chat show host Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia DeRossi. In fact they loved him so much; they got him to play at their wedding last year. Still, you don’t get your music onto any programme just because you know somebody, no matter who they are.

Also the fact that his music has been used in so many programmes, ads and films since, goes some way to displacing the myth that it’s all about who you know not what you know.

When Flux got the chance to talk to Joshua, he had just kicked off the tour for his second album, Simple Times. The tour takes him to America, Ireland, the UK, France, Germany, Sweden and Australia. He won’t get off the road until February 2010.

Although this constant touring schedule could get repetitive for some, playing the same, or indeed similar sets every night, Joshua realises how lucky he is to be even given the chance to tour internationally. “Well every date’s a little different, it could never be boring. I would definitely never complain, I mean how many people get to do what they absolutely love to do every night?”

Although Joshua’s career took off relatively late in life, it’s clear that he feels very lucky to have it, after spending years, as he says, “doing the whole starving artist thing, just in a different medium.” Growing up in Ohio his musical heroes were people like Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Neil Young and the Beatles. But he never thought of becoming a singer and only picked up a guitar after six years of trying to make it as a screenwriter.

“I guess the way I think about myself is less of a musician and more of an artist,” he explains, which makes his move from screenwriting to songwriting a little more understandable. “Music just happens to be the medium right now I’m using to express myself,” adding that he says this with the least pretension possible.

He categorises his music as ‘whisper rock’, a phrase, he says, that could have been invented for him, had it not been for previous artists such as Nick Drake and Elliot Smith. These also, however, happen to be musical heroes of his and imitation, as they say, is the greatest form of flattery.

Just how personal his songs get, Joshua isn’t about to tell us. Although he might have once been scared about the subjects of his songs hearing them, it seems he has let go of his apprehension.

“At first it took me a long time to start writing, I wasn’t sure how personal I wanted to get but then I realised after writing my first song, it was so intensely personal and people responded to it. I said to myself right, I’m not going to compromise anymore, be totally honest and let the chips fall where they may.”

How does it feel though when fans hear the songs and think somehow they know you without ever having met you?

“Yeah that is difficult. It’s really strange when you meet people and they feel like they know you but I don’t know them at all. It’s like starting on unequal ground. So it’s really difficult to find connections with people who know your music.”

Meeting people can be difficult – although it could be made easier if you looked like Joshua - but his view is that “the people I find a connection with are ones who’ve never heard of me. The whole of falling in love is all that good stuff in the beginning when you don’t know anything about the person and you’re just learning it all.”

But if connecting with people can be difficult for Joshua his fans certainly don’t feel the same way. His following have faithfully kept with him since the release of his first album in 2006, We Were Here.

Just to get to the second album can be an achievement in the music business these days, and things have changed significantly since Joshua sat down to record his debut three years ago.

“Well they couldn’t have been more different. The first album I recorded with my friend in his bedroom. We didn’t have a studio or anything and it took me about 9 months cause I didn’t have any money so anytime he was free, I’d go over and lay down a song. The second album, I made with a record label, with a real producer in a real studio’.

Without having a background in music, some would find the prospect of recording a full length album a bit daunting, but Joshua seems to have coped well.

“I wouldn’t say it was nerve wracking. All the people that were there, were there because I chose them and I picked them because I knew we’d work well together.”

And when it came to putting pen to paper on the second album, despite a drastic change in his environment, Joshua says that he felt a mixture of fear and inspiration. “I think you need a little bit of both.”

The album was released stateside in 2008, but didn’t actually reach Irish shores until August of this year. Following its release in the US, Joshua headed straight out on the road to tour it. Although his album came out here a mere two months ago, he’s played here three times - and all to sold out shows. He says he loves it here.

“Dublin is just a great place to play. The people really listen to the words, they don’t come to talk, they come to listen.”

This time round though, the experience of being an American in Europe is a much nicer prospect. Since Dubya finished his term, Joshua says that things aren’t so anti-American.

“I toured Europe opening for Tori Amos when George Bush was President about three years ago. A lot of places we went there was a lot of anti-American sentiment, I felt bad about it. I felt like I had to apologise for it. Now I don’t have to apologise… as much. It’s a whole different world,” he laughs.

And it seems like, for Joshua Radin, it really is a whole different world. He’s come from recording an album in a bedroom to a headlining international tour of his own second album in just five years.

It’s not bad for somebody nobody’s heard of.