After putting together an album, Memories and Moments, Joseph Anthony has earned the title of singer, songwriter, composer, producer, engineer, and of course, musician.
Anthony played most of the instruments and recorded all of the vocals on the album, which features 10 original songs. He produced, composed, and recorded each of the songs on his own from a working studio set up in the basement of his Jersey City residence.
Anthony has been in Jersey City for most of his life. He started playing the piano when he was just 5 years old, and picked up his first guitar when he was 8. Anthony didn’t take lessons for the instruments that interested him; he is self-taught. It can be said that he was born with an ear for music.
"It just came to me at an early age," he said in a recent interview. "I sat at a piano and it kind of just clicked. Intuition, you could say. I just knew how to play. Even when I was young, without realizing it, I would listen to music and start thinking of ways that it could be rearranged."
Anthony has performed in numerous places in the metro area including the Madison Bar & Grill, Texas Arizona, and Love Sexy in Hoboken, and the Lion’s Den in New York City. He recently participated in a cancer benefit show at Cochran Stadium and performed at Liberty State Park in Jersey City this summer. When performing live, Anthony brings along guitarist Patrick Juskiewicz and the two jam on stage. He’s currently looking for a bass player and a drummer, hoping to start playing with a whole band.
"I enjoy what I do and live in the moment. I’m doing what I love," he said. "If you put too much focus on the outcome [of the music] it brings negative vibes. Thinking about the end product sometimes puts too much focus in the wrong area."
The lyrics to Anthony’s songs are both poetic and rhythmic. Anthony said that he didn’t approach the creation of the lyrics with any kind of formula.
"Some are originally thoughts, like poetry, and I don’t worry about the rhyming until later. Some come about in different ways," he said.
The song "God Bless Our Love" off the new album, stemmed from a conversation about the words of Jonathan Edwards, the television psychic who preaches to appreciate people while they are here and now. The song started out with a somewhat complicated blueprint, but the end result was not what Anthony had planned.
"After I laid down the piano and the vocals, I heard it and liked it," he said.
He decided to leave the song the way he first recorded it, in its raw form.
"Let the words speak for themselves," he said. "A song doesn’t always have to have harmony and a bridge." "Newman," is another positive song on the album that explores the idea of breaking through negativity.
Anthony hopes that when people hear his music they have good feelings.
"If they’re musicians, I want them to feel inspired," he said. "In times like these, when every band on the radio sounds the same, dare to be different."
Anthony’s two biggest influences were his mother and his father. His mother was known to sing around the house when she was a kid, and even participated in a few talent shows.
"My father couldn’t hold a tune," he said, "but had the most eclectic collection of records. From doo-wop to jazz to country." From the example of his father, Anthony appreciates all genres of music, but admits that deep down he’s a pop fanatic.
"I love a great melody. It’s all about how you arrange music. It all starts with melody," he said.
Anthony can be seen doing a show every Sunday at the Black Awning, formerly The Pitcher’s Mound, at 9 p.m. in Jersey City. His album is available at any of his performances and also at Piero’s at 942 Broadway in Bayonne. q