Interview: Josh Atkinson

After a run of singles, North-East singer-songwriter Josh Atkinson releases his debut EP Homebird. Produced by Jamie Donnelly, the EP also features Grammy‑nominated drummer Jordan Perlson (Molly Tuttle, Taylor Swift) on All We Ever Need. Josh’s songs weave nostalgia with optimism, capturing the push and pull between freedom and hesitation in a way that speaks directly to youthful experience. Musically, they shimmer with the warmth of summery sixties tones, reimagined through a modern indie‑rock lens that lifts and frames his effortlessly melodic voice. Echoes of George Harrison, Alex Turner and The Coral drift through the arrangements, while the layered production creates an atmosphere that is both inviting and immersive.

We caught up with Josh to find out more…

Briefly tell us a little about your musical journey to date? 
It mainly started through going to open mic nights in Leeds when I was at university while studying Illustration, which was in 2015. So the creative cogs turned from there with writing my own material and through learning to play covers. I was already playing guitar and writing in a very small capacity before that but I became more focused and inspired by seeing other performers. After graduating and moving back home in 2019, I eventually tried out a few different open mics locally and got my first gigs playing covers and one of the open mics led to me being asked to be in the band Nice Guy, becoming the lead guitarist in 2021. My own writing continued but it’s only since the start of last year that I have been releasing my songs. I’ve done many solo acoustic gigs for covers and originals in the past few years, building confidence with playing and trying out a wide range of my own material; hopefully, it will be with a band soon. 

What’s your typical starting point when writing a song—does it begin with a lyric, a melody, or something else entirely? 
As a guitarist you would think it would be on the instrument as the typical starting point, but more often it begins with a random thought when not playing anything, something to do with the subconscious still working away in the background. Quite often it happens while driving for example and I’ve done a fair few voice notes, safely, I might add, which sometimes capture a brief lyrical idea along with the melody. So they sometimes come together but not fully formed as a ready-made song or anything like that. I then develop them, usually with an acoustic guitar, after the brief idea has been noted down. I have written occasionally through a riff or chord progression or a musical idea first but it mostly starts the other way. 

If you could collaborate with any artist—past or present—who would it be, and what kind of track would you want to create together? 
Due to my brain being wired a certain way, I’m the kind of person that could indecisively say an endless list of different people both past and present, it depends on the day and the moment. However, since I have been recently reading the guitarist Earl Slick’s book, which details a lot of his work with David Bowie, starting around 1974, I currently say Mr Bowie, but then again, he is a massive inspiration at times to me anyway. I love so much of his discography but I’ll go with the glam rock kind of style in Moonage Daydream and I would do my best Mick Ronson kind of sound while wailing away on the lead guitar. 

You’ve described Homebird as your most honest and revealing work to date. What shifted in your songwriting process to allow that vulnerability to come through? 
The odd thing about Homebird being released now is that it’s been with me for many years and doesn’t, in fact, show a current shift in my songwriting. It’s really a one-off for me, though in terms of its style. Retrospectively, I think It was inspired by a three-way kind of influence on the guitar; Back Pocket by Vulfpeck, Something Like Olivia by John Mayer but the acoustic way he plays it and it sort of has a Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix kind of feel. I feel that those were all there subconsciously at that time of writing. It was born from me moving back from Leeds, so I was reflecting on the concept of a Homebird and me, therefore being one and yes, I suppose that concept does come with vulnerability. I was purposefully keen to make the song upbeat though and fun to play, despite the slightly downbeat side of the lyrics, something I usually wish to achieve with my songs.

Tell us about some of the themes that run through the EP. 
It’s a very introspective EP on the whole and it’s one of those projects where the songs are thrown together and not written in a purpose built kind of way, as they already existed and they range from how old and new the songs are. I think I’ve achieved a really nice balance and it shows my journey so to speak as a songwriter over the past several years. The EP has themes running through it such as; fear of staying or leaving, growing up, insecurities and optimism in the face of adversity and/or uncertainty. 

All In Good Time carries clear echoes of George Harrison and Alex Turner. How do you approach blending timeless influences with a contemporary sound? 
The George Harrison nod, I suppose, comes from two things: one my voice, I do sometimes have that nasal or adenoidal vocal quality that he had and the second thing being that, in style terms, it does slightly echo All Things Must Pass, even the title sounds quite similar. Definitely not intentional though. I love the blend of acoustic-style songwriting and electric guitar parts, along with the full band kind of production. Just like Harrison did and then, even to some extent, Alex Turner put on his Submarine EP and with some of The Last Shadow Puppets, most notably, as opposed to most of the Arctic Monkeys output. Certain songs from that EP have shaped something in my style as a songwriter. I love the melancholy and wistful nature of those songs, which ultimately comes from a songwriting style of a different era. They have somewhat influenced how I go about crafting a song and in certain ways, made me think about my intentions when it comes to production styles and choices, both contemporary and classic.

Scared I’m Not Your Man is described as your most confident track to date. What gave you that sense of creative assurance during its writing and recording? 
This song always was and still is the outlier on the EP, but I’m really pleased I stuck with it and we got it onto the project. It’s an oddball kind of sound for me, but it also contains a very important part of me as a musician and that’s all within the chord progression. I have always gravitated to songs that musically go on the journey and weave through interesting chords. These great 3 B’s did it so well, The Beatles, Beach Boys (Brian Wilson) and Bowie. I must also mention Stevie Wonder and his song Golden Lady in particular, that one blew my mind when I first heard it. The lyrics deal with self-doubts in the topic of a relationship that I felt were necessary at the time to craft into a song, which was a couple of years ago. All the songs were developed from my demos and this one was definitely a case of having that foundation; it really helped mould it and shape it into a far better final product. “Match and improve”, to quote Jamie, the producer. 

Jamie Donnelly produced the EP. What was it like working with him and what did he bring to the EP? 
It’s brilliant working with someone as professional and experienced as Jamie, but who equally makes you feel at ease and is excellent at encouraging the artistic choices that are within me, but might need some coaxing out and some much-needed encouragement. Getting the best out of me, so to speak, as any good teacher and producer should, which he is. I really enjoy being able to bounce off him with the influences we are both into and injecting them into the songs whenever they work.

You’ve worked with Grammy-nominated drummer Jordan Perlson on All We Ever Need. How did that collaboration come about? 
Apart from Jamie producing and performing various parts on the project, the inclusion of Jordan Perlson is the only collaboration on the EP and what a name to add to it. I must admit I wasn’t familiar with him prior to him being involved but I was blown away completely when Jamie sprung the fact he’d got him involved on the track. I didn’t realise there was even an actual drummer playing on the song as opposed to it being some nifty sounding drum loops, which has quite often been the case so far. Jamie was sending me takes back and forth and I was suggesting what didn’t quite feel or sound right…It’s insane knowing who Jordan has worked with and now that he was on my song. He’s added the perfect driving but laid back feel to the final track on the EP.

How do you know when a song is finished, especially when working with layered arrangements and emotional themes? 
Good question, I suppose it can be down to something as ‘wishy washy’ sounding as you just know or have a gut feeling that it’s fully completed and is the best version that it can be. My indecisive nature can affect me for this though so I’m sometimes not the most qualified to say. I advise to listen to mixes repeatedly to lock in any decisions or any notes you might have where it needs further tweaks. You always need to strike the balance of it not being too cluttered production wise and not too sparse and empty. It all depends on what serves the song and how the instrumentation reflects the themes and the feel of what the song is about. 

What do you hope listeners take away from Homebird? 
I would like to think they can take away that I’m a musically open kind of songwriter and I do my best to be fairly diverse and not one note with the type of songs that I write. So hopefully they’d feel interested enough to hear what else is to come as I have a wide range of influences. This EP is an example of how my songs can reflect the ‘wearing my heart on my sleeve’ kind of approach so hopefully they can appreciate the honesty and authenticity that is within my songs that are on the project and who I am as a songwriter. I also hope they can appreciate the musicality of what’s gone into the writing and arrangement of the songs. 

Do you have anything else in the pipeline? 
A solo acoustic gig at a fundraiser event in Saltburn next month and working on a music video with the Reel Tenderness project, which I’m really excited about. Not too many gigs currently on the horizon, it’s usually down to balancing life and work however, I would really love to change that and get something in place to be playing my stuff with a band. Plenty of songs to come, a lot already written but of course there’ll be new ones hopefully too to release. An album would be an amazing goal at some point.