TRNSMT 2023: Joesef on touring the world and returning to Glasgow

From New York to London, Glasgow’s own soul pop singer Joesef has been all over the world in recent months with his debut album Permanent Damage, though returned to his home city last weekend (7 July) in aid of a main stage performance at Scotland’s biggest music festival, TRNSMT. Following the gig, we managed to catch a moment with the artist and here about his latest ventures.

“I loved growing up in the East End it was class. very vibrant, a lot of drama, a lot of hilarity. Never a dull day in old Garthamlock, Easterhouse. You won’t find funnier people anywhere else.”

Talking about his TRNSMT set, Joesef said: “I was a bit scared at first for some reason, I don’t know why. But I walked out and clocked eyes with my brother and I’ve not seen him for ages, he had two drinks in his hand and I thought ‘he’s having a belter so I’m going to have a good time for him’. I enjoyed it I had fun.”

On touring across the world with his music, he said: “It’s tiring. I like to be places I don’t like to travel to them. But it is amazing how your tunes can take you to all these mad places and you can meet all these interesting people. The weather kind of sucks here but there’s no place like home. Glasgow’s kind of held me up my entire career so it’s nice to be back and see my mates and my family and stuff.

“I feel like any time Glasgow gets the sun people just turn feral. Honestly, Kelvingrove Park when everyone’s got a booze, it’s class. I feel like Glasgow doesn’t get the sun because if we did we’d literally be unstoppable, it’d be the best place in the world. The people, the sun, we’d be unstoppable, so I think it’s just to take us down a peg.

“I feel like the crowds here are unreal. We just done the Barras and it was the best weekend of my life it was so good. But I’ve been in the crowds, I’ve been the crowd. We go mad for anything. But aye, it’s class.

On his philosophy behind making music: “I feel like a lot of my music comes from my own experiences and my relationships and stuff like that. A lot of hard times, a lot of hard times. It kind of sucked for a while and that’s how the album was made. I don’t really have a process, I just live my life and it comes from nowhere. I think if I knew how to work it then I would have wrote a lot more songs, but I don’t, so I just let it happen if it does.

“I feel like there’s a couple of people who want me to make another album so I better get on that, but I feel like I’m not done with this one yet, I’m still taking it to as far as it can go. I’m happy right now, I’m feeling good, I don’t think I’ve got another depressing album in me. I need to write one at some point but it’s not on the cards yet, I think I need to sleep first and then I’ll get to it.

“I’m going to rinse Permanent Damage until it’s dead. I’m going to rinse it until no one wants to come anywhere near me. So until that day comes I’ll keep carrying that torch.