Insight #11: Josh Beech

His sharp, delicate features will surely look familiar to you. Or at least, you’ll recognize him on every single magazine cover once you’ve met his no-frills but extra-deep gaze. Some have described Josh Beech as a fallen angel, a creature fallen, I should probably add, from a planet where hardcore-looking guys have the finest faces and the sweetest voices. In fact, althought working for some serious stuff named Moschino, Vivienne Westwood, Valentino, G. Fujiwara, Mugler (I could carry on listing for hours), Josh’s favourite way to express harmony is not just exposing his body to crazy cameras flashes or pulling adorable faces, but growing his feelings into powerful tunes or (especially lately) soft, moving strains.

Music and fashion, melodies and beauty. Is your life balanced between the two of them, or do you give much more importance to just one of these?
Yes, I would say that at the moment they are pretty balanced, although my heart is more in music, as that has always been my passion. I suppose that after releasing the album I will be dedicating even more time to music. We will be touring and all that. I really think that music is more relaxing, I mean that it soothes the soul… you know?

What was your and your bandmates reaction when Burberry contacted you and how did the thing go?
We were all really excited. It is a really prestigious British brand, with a lot of history as well. Of course, when they asked us to play for them we immediately said “YES!” and were all over the moon. Christopher Bailey actually asked personally for us to play for his acoustic YouTube page.

Could you name one song to describe your fashion lifestyle? Also, do you have some favourite fashion brand you worked for that you feel really close to your personal style?
Well, I think All Saints brand is the closest to my personal style. I dunno if I could name a single, particular song to describe my fashion lifestyle… maybe a Local Natives track.

Tattoos, piercing, stretchers. You belong to a totally new generation of models who reflect some kind of “alternative” beauty, much more near to what are nowadays youngsters’ trends and tastes. Do you feel like changing that, fashion standards? Has anyone ever complained about your personal style (like, what are fashion people reactions when they see tattoos on the catwalk)?
I don’t know if I’m actually changing something, but I feel pretty lucky to belong to this new generation! It’s so cool to belong to something new, fresh, different. No one has ever complained, well not to my face anyway. And I haven’t had stretchers in over a year now, I think I grew out of it and just got bored of them as I had had them for 7 years. Never going to stop getting tattooed though!

Josh posing with friend and colleague Ash Stymest for Dazed & Confused

When did you discover to have a passion for music? What’s your earliest memory about that?
My earliest memory is definitely singing along to my mum’s Beatles and Paul Simon records. I was about 4. I dont think I have ever not loved music. It’s something that just runs in my family, we all have music on all the time.

(if you’ve never heard of Josh’s music, start with this)

If you had to compare your first important shooting and the latest one you had, what would be your reflections? Do you feel the same way everytime or did you get used to it? And what to do you feel exactly?
I guess I now am more comfortable around the camera comparing it to the first shoot I’ve ever done. Though, I still have that same anxiousness about, for example, what the shoots are gonna be like and whether people from the team are going to be cool. Some shoots are more relaxed than others anyway, ’cause there are times when I shoot with my friends. That’s always a laugh and it looks so much more like fun than work.

During fashion weeks, do you have a “music abstinence”, or would it be likely to find you playing your favourite song on an acoustic guitar?
‘Always have my acoustic, that’s why I started writing acoustic tracks, apposed to my heavy punk style of other writing. It gave me something to do while I was away or alone.

Do you have any worst and best fashion/music experiences?
No, it’s all good, I don’t actually think bad experiences exist really. Everything you do makes you grow as a person!

So basically, what he’s saying is:

Reading his spontaneous, candid answers, you can only wish this boy to have a long and successful artistic career. Josh Beech’s (& the Johns) new album, entitled “Letters Written in The Sky”, will be out worldwide in February, 2012. His next show will be the DJ set planned for the 18th of November at the Touch the Wood Club, in Rome.

Good luck, babe.

Other places you can find Josh on:
Official Website
Myspace
Facebook Fan Page
Twitter

interview by Sara Scialpi

Up-and-Coming Style doesn’t own any of the pictures posted here. All the rights go to the respective photographers.