VENTS MAGAZINE

INTERVIEW: ACTRESS/SINGER/SONGWRITER/MOTHER BROOKE JOSEPHSON

We’re pleased to be speaking today with noted and respected actress, singer-songwriter and mother Brooke Josephson; welcome to Vents, Brooke! A couple of weeks in, how is 2022 treating you?

Thanks for the opportunity to speak with Vents Magazine today! I’m feeling super charged and hopeful heading into 2022. My family and friends are healthy and we have so much to be grateful for after the past two years.

Major congratulations are in order for your new lyric video entitled Showin’ Up! What was the genesis of this particular tune?

I’m a big fan of producer/songwriter, Dan Wilson and enjoy following him on Instagram since meeting him at a writer’s conference in 2013. He posted a challenge for songwriters in 2019 to write a song to open their live shows and I really thought about “What makes live music so special?” I kept coming back to the common denominator for both the fans and artist is the power of showing up. Live shows are a culmination of years the artist has shown up for themselves, rehearsing and writing when no one is watching, that is then celebrated through the power of fans showing up in person to hear the music that inspires them and to support an artist they love with the people they love.

Showin’ Up feels like a crackling anthem for underdogs throughout the world and it’s received tons of accolades. Have you been gratified by the super-positive reception of the song?

The accolades are very kind, I actually love to hear how the song personally inspires and encourages listeners. The song’s meaning certainly evolved for me during the pandemic when I watched health care and essential workers show up on the front lines everyday as the rest of the world became dependent on the people who are the backbone of society. There wasn’t a huge crowd cheering them on as they put their lives on the line each day to make a difference. They might not be celebrities, but during a global pandemic, they were the heroes.  

Who was your mixer on Showin’ Up and what was your collaboration process like?

I was so fortunate to work with Oscar and Grammy Award winning Brendan Dekora on the mixes. My engineer Chris Kahn at East West Studios in Hollywood introduced us. We basically worked remotely where Chris would pass over the sessions and then I would let Brendan know what I was looking for in the mix. He would then send over a first pass based on my notes and he’s so good I only had a few minor tweaks.

You produced the Showin’ Up EP. What was that experience like for you?

 Oh wow! This EP had quite the journey. On my last EP, Sexy N’ Domesticated, I brought my producer, Tony Berg my Logic sessions and we would transfer them over to Pro Tools where we would decide what was worth keeping. Then he brought in an incredible group of studio musicians (Matt Chamberlain on drums, Patrick Warren on keys, Joel Shearer on guitar and Alan Hampton on Bass) for overdubs. Then he passed the sessions off to Grammy Award Winning Engineer Shawn Everett to mix. The Showin’ Up EP was the first time I recorded the demos at home, then shared them with my band for us to perform live for about 6 months before I started scouting recording studios in Nashville. I landed on Zac Brown’s studio, Southern Ground and started recording in November of 2019. I loved working with my engineer, Michael Walter on the Nashville sessions that featured Seth Rausch on drums and Kristin Wilkinson on strings. Michael also engineered my piano and vocal sessions as well as the guitar sessions with Tim Pierce, then we added in the MUSYCA Children’s Choir vocal sessions I produced for the song Rainbow, which I had slated to release in June of 2020. Then everything, even my live shows booked for 2020 came to a screeching halt with the lockdown. I went from producing to suddenly juggling Zoom school for my two kids, around my husband working from home, so it was a challenge to put my music on pause. But, as soon as I was fully vaccinated, I dove back into production with a real reverence and gratitude to finish what I started. Since there were still so many unknowns about the virus, I decided to team up with Chris Kahn at East West Studios in Hollywood to pick up where I left off. Chris has an incredible ear and we had a tight shorthand, where nothing was ego driven or lost in translation. He is especially great at setting up the perfect recipe for recording guitars. He did an incredible job spotlighting all of the guitar solos on this EP by my lead guitarist Chris Nordlinger. What you hear on the record is what you’ll hear Nordlinger deliver live and how the songs were written. I really look forward to working with Chris Kahn and Brendan Dekora on my records in the future.

Showin’ Up is the title track off of your forthcoming EP which is set for release on February 25. What can fans expect from this new EP?

Showin’ Up is raw and rockin.’ It covers so many universal themes that each song might have been inspired by a personal story but they have taken on a life of their own depending on the listener. It also represents my growth both as a person and artist. I stretched myself to comb through every lyric and call “bs” on myself until I cut to the truth. The Lesson, Hangin’ Up My Cape, Don’t Say, and Rainbow are the most vulnerable I’ve been with my lyrics. I have had some reviews describe The Lesson as a love song which is interesting since I didn’t set out to write a love song but I can hear it from that perspective now. It was actually a song I wrote for my mom after she came to visit  me from Indiana and I spent most of the trip lost in my head. She had a health scare shortly after that shook me and I wrote her the song as a way to let her know how much she means to me and that I don’t want to take our time together for granted.   

How is your Showin’ Up EP different from your 2018 EP Sexy N’ Domesticated? How is it similar?

Sonically they are drastically different. Really the only thing similar is that I wrote the songs. I took a little detour musically with Sexy N’ Domesticated, and let out my “sardonic side” as Tony Berg referred to it during one of our sessions. I personally was in the “toddler trenches” with my son and juggling two kids while my husband was working on the east coast during the making of Sexy N’ Domesticated, so songs like “Crazy Called Normal” came naturally, as did my struggle with gender roles and the double standard on the title track and Mr. Fix It. The tongue and cheek lyrics were my way of tackling the issues with a wink and a smile, whereas with Showin’ Up, I grew and gave myself permission to be more vulnerable and personal with my writing.

You landed some amazing talent for Showin’ Up. Can you talk a little about the talented lot that you assembled for the new EP?

I am fortunate so many talented people heard the demos and were excited to contribute to the EP. I loved working with drummer Seth Rausch (Little Big Town, Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban) in Nashville and then Kristin Wilkinson (OneRepublic, Brandi Carlile) put together beautiful string arrangements for the string sessions. My guitar teacher and friend, Shawn Fleming introduced me to Tim Pierce who was willing to contribute, even though he doesn’t really take on session work anymore, so I was beyond grateful for the opportunity to work with him. The MUSYCA Children’s Choir not only sang on the single, Rainbow, but also were excited to be featured in the music video. Then to work with my engineer, Chris Kahn, who really leaned into spotlighting the talent of my lead guitarist Chris Nordlinger on the guitar solos on the EP, which you can count on hearing when you come to my live shows. That was really important to me. Then to have Brendan Dekora take on the mixes was like a dream come true after the journey the songs had been on.

Are there plans afoot for a tour to promote Showin’ Up?

I’m excited to kick off the EP release with my first live show since the pandemic at Whisky a Go Go on Saturday February 26th.

As we noted at the front, not only are you an accomplished musical artist, but you’re also a respected actress. How do you juggle the music and the acting alongside a very important job of being a mother?

Time management and a sense of humor. My job as “Shira and Murray’s Mom” comes first. I love my “little roommates” as I call them sometimes when they think I’m a professional picker upper and I have to remind them that someday they won’t be my roommate and their new ones won’t wanna step over their stuff. All joking aside, I’m grateful for every opportunity I have been able to act since becoming a mom as well as being able to produce music. I have wonderful relationships with casting directors and directors I have worked with in the past who have cast me in other projects based on my previous experience. Just before the lockdown I actually worked as a “PTA Mom” in an episode of NBC’s the GOOD GIRLS and most recently I played the voice of a fairy in an upcoming Disney feature where I could record the voiceover from my studio after I dropped my kids off at school. As a mom, I have always felt the importance of teaching my children the value of owning their self-worth by living it. They come home from school and love running into my studio, telling me about their day and playing around on the instruments, then coming to my shows or being part of the music videos. It’s a real treat to also encourage their interests outside of mine by supporting their love of ice hockey, surfing, skate boarding and skiing. My daughter has been a Jr. Ambassador for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles since she was seven years old and I have helped her make her dream of publishing a book each year to fundraise for the CHLA Literally Healing Program that provides a book to each patient, as well as helping her film and share her weekly video story time called, Shira’s Story Corner, where she films herself reading a children’s book to patients too sick to have visitors. I have tried my best to manage my time to make sure my kids have the chance to express themselves and make a difference in the world as well.

Speaking of acting, you have a new film in the pipeline called Nobody’s Home where you play a character called Alice. What can you tell us about this upcoming film?

It’s a thriller directed by Michelle Bossy, who directed two of my award winning music videos, Horrified and Rainbow that will be filming in the Catskills this March. I’m a little hesitant to say too much about the script since it’s a mystery centered around the murder of my character, Alice.

 Your first credited screen appearance came in a 2007 episode of Bones. Any special memories of that freshman project?

I have to laugh looking back at working on Bones. I had just moved from NY to LA and it was one of the first gigs I booked. I played a hostess, which wasn’t too hard sourcing from my years of experience waitressing in NY. David and Emily were really chill and Emily’s Dad, Caleb Deschanel directed the episode, so I wasn’t nervous with the family vibe on set. I’ll never forget Caleb teasing me since I brought the Joan Didion book, The Year of Magical Thinking to set with me to read in between takes. I had my head buried in the book with a pencil to underline anything that resonated with me and he said, “Needed some light reading? This isn’t exciting enough for you?” I smiled and said, “Yes.”

Where did your simultaneous love of music and acting originate from? Is there a Secret Origin story you could share with us?

Playing pretend as a kid. We weren’t allowed to watch much TV growing up so I was always torturing my brothers to play the villain or the prince in my own shows in front of the dining room curtains. I sang in church and my mom took us to the local library once a week to check out a stack of books, so between my love of music (where my mom tells me I was born singing) and my own imagination under the influence of stories like Bridge to Terabithia and Chronicles of Narnia, I naturally gravitated towards auditioning for school musicals in Junior High all the way until I landed my first professional core company contract at a Rep Theatre right out of college.

 As a singer and songwriter, which comes first for you: The lyrics or the music?

My songwriting process always starts with lyrics. I love reading lyrics out loud by songwriters I admire. There is something to be said for lyrics that can move the listener in a different way depending on the music that is married to the lyrics. It’s really refreshing to hear cover songs that strip down the production and make the lyrics more raw and intimate with just the piano or guitar, or simply slowing down the tempo.  I remember when my daughter was really little and she read the lyrics of Stressed Out by twentyonepilots out loud. I had chills hearing her innocent voice (that has changed so much since), saying “wish we could turn back time to the good old days when the mommas sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out.” The song went from a catchy pop song to something deep.