What’s your stage name and where are you from?
Juss-1 and im from Albany New York
What’s the story behind your stage name?
I make movies as well as music and I got pretty close to having a TV show made this past year. I dedicated a lot of time into this particular concept and my producer and I, Chris Gaunt, had a running sayint that it takes just one person to believe in what we’re doing. One day it just clicked as I was thinking about those words and thus Juss-1 was born.
Describe your musical journey in three sentences.
It was a liferaft during a tumultuous time in my life as a young man struggling with addiction. There were growing pains as I figured out who I was as an artist and as a human being. And now I’d say rewarding and cathartic to feel in control of that identity and what I want to articulate.
Share an interesting experience you had while creating your latest track.
I had the opportunity to collaborate with my fiance on the last song on the new record “Cry for Health” while we were holed up in a cabin in the dead of winter. It was really beautiful to make music with her as she’s the type of person who’s always singing in the shower or around the house and I said “hey, why don’t you lay something down on this one” reluctantly she agreed and Im forever grateful to have that experience with her. I think we were both really pleased with the result.
What message do you want to convey through your music?
I just speak about my personal feelings and I don’t hold back. I hope that people can find solace or joy in it. But ultimately everyone has their own interpretation and leaving room for abstractions is a beautiful thing. The art that Im inspired by has helped me feel less alone and more understood in that moment regard. I want to pass that feeling along to others. Overall it’s an attempt to connect with the world and try and make sense of myself and what it means to be a person and that means not holding anything back when it comes to expressing myself. Sometimes simple statements articulated eloquently can be the most profound in that regard.
Tell us about a challenge you faced during production and how you overcame it.
The biggest challenge has always been financial and a barrier to entry in the early days of me trying to do this. Having a little recording set up in my own place has been a game changer. That way if you have an idea and you wanna strike when the iron is hot you’re able to hum something out and get the feeling down before honing in on the details. I’m lucky to have a dedicated partner in my friend Cody Cichowski who is a supremely talented engineer out of Milkboy Studios in Philly who has taken the time to work with me many a late night to help bring these projects to fruition.
If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?
Oh man. Such a tough question. Many of the great ones have unfortunately passed on. But If we’re talking about current hip hop legends doing amazing things there’s several guys that come to mind from Denzel Curry to JID to Danny Brown. Songwriters like Fiona Apple, St Vincent, and Jack White who seems to age like fine wine. And I’d be remiss not to mention legends like Black Thought and Lupe Fiasco. Two of the greatest of all time for my money. I’d also love to work with legends on the producer front like The Alchemist, Madlib, Jon Brian who always bring something special to any project that feels tailor made to that artist. Rick Rubin seems like a cool guy too because he helps you find what’s true to you and the results certainly speak for themselves in the regard. If we were to dive into filmmaking that’s a long list and probably a subject for another day. RIP Philip Seymour Hoffman though. Obviously highly subjective but he’s the GOAT for my money. That was a lot but loaded questions sometimes come with loaded answers.
Where do you see your music taking you in the next year?
I wanna push these records Cry for Health and From the Abyss, play shows and see where it goes. I have lofty ambitions but you can’t get too high or low on any one opportunity. Just do your best, stay persistent and keep creating, and let the chips fall where they may.
What’s the next big step for you as an artist?
Hopefully continuing to prove my craft and breaking through as a musician and a filmmaker. I seem them as two sides of the same coin. Different forms of expression that are equally important to me. Sometimes it comes out as a song sometimes it comes out as a script or a poem or whatever it may be. I don’t see them as stepping stones or some gimmick for one thing to get me to another point. I just love to make things. Hopefully that breakthrough leads to some cool opportunities to make one of the scripts Im passionate about as a filmmaker whether that be TV or some wacky horror comedy feature. In terms of music, I’d love to collaborate with one of those aforementioned artists or any number of others that I admire that I may have forgot to include for sake of brevity. Akira Kurosawa the legendary filmmaker once said after receiving a much overdue lifetime achievement award that he hadn’t fully mastered his craft. I always remember that and strive to be better at all times. If that guy isn’t a master who am I to rest on any laurels? We must always be striving to evolve and grow.
Where can we hear/watch your most recent work?
I just launched a new website joegietl.com which has a lot of my work including music unproduced works and some of my finished or in progress pieces. I’m also on all the major streaming platforms for music by searching up Juss-1. Check it out and hear the full album as it was intended to be experienced.
