Josh was originally in a band called Lift To Experience and they released one absolutely incredible album called ‘The Texas Jerusalem Crossroads’. It was a concept album full of shimmering guitars, fire and brimstone and deep soul. He fell off the radar for a number of years but when I was at All Tomorrow Parties in 2007 curated by Dirty Three I was delighted to meet him. He strode through the crowd like a man out of time. An imposing figure over 6 feet tall with a big ten gallon hat and a beard like nothing you have ever seen. Which was really saying something in a festival infested with beards. He was charming and hilarious to chat to though I didn’t realise it at first because of his intimidating presence. In fact he was a real sweetie. I asked him where he had been all of these years and he fixed me in the eye and said “Survivin’”. I caught up with him the following week and photographed him at a London gig and also in December 2009 at The Windmill in Brixton. At that gig I shot his full show with some distorted sound that just about gets away with it. Watch it for the hat intro alone!

It seems he has been continuously working on new songs and now the world is about to hear his new album via Rough Trade and with some fairly handy reviews including a 5 star rating in this months UNCUT.