Joe Goodall, a young up-and-coming Scottish artist has always loved music. He shares two anecdotes from his childhood that point to his life-long dream: writing his first song – to go Halloween guising with – at the age of five and running around an imaginary stage in the school playground pretending to be AC/DC’s famously energetic Angus Young.
“I’ve adored the performance aspect of music and creating a show – the theatre.”
Young, along with The Talking Heads’ David Byrne and Matty Healy from The 1975, are quickly identified as musical influences. All of them performers but, for Goodall, writing is just as important.
“I have been writing songs as long as I can remember, consistently since I was about twelve or thirteen years old.”
Now at the end of his teenage years, is Joe Goodall a singer-songwriter, or more like Healy’s Postmodern Pop persona? He considers.
“You can’t be Matty Healy until you have fans, that’s when you can bounce off a crowd – I’ve studied bands like The 1975 and I hope that makes our shows exciting. I want to be more than just a singer-songwriter. When people have paid to see you, you feel a duty of care in a way. You want to put on a show.”
Joe, now studying Music at Edinburgh Napier, will be familiar to Stirling students after coming to campus to promote his gigs and releases.
“In person you can make real connections with people – it’s just quite nice really – but I actually find it less nerve-wracking to speak with people in the industry.”
He says of handing out QR codes linked to his music to Sigrid, Sam Ryder and KT Tunstall backstage at the Belladrum Festival in the summer: “Most of the time they’re totally happy to talk with you. Once I spoke to Sam Ryder, I felt like I could speak to anyone.”
But when it comes to promo, social media is king. Initially sceptical, Joe has become an active TikTok and Instagram poster.
“You’re only harming your own prospects if you don’t use it. It started for me after I met (English musician) Dylan at one of her gigs. She told me you have to dedicate your life to TikTok in music nowadays – I was like, ‘I need to do it now.’”
“I use social media because it’s the thing to do, but I’m trying to do it well.”
Earlier this year, he took to TikTok to reveal that his interest in playing a run of gigs at Scottish universities was met with hesitance.
“Stirling Uni was once a huge place for bands to stop by. Pink Floyd played there, and my dad studied at Stirling and he got to play there with his band.”
“When I got in touch, Stirling told me ‘we don’t really do live music here,’ which is sad when you remember what they used to do. It’s probably not financially viable for unions to host gigs, but it could really relight that fire in the grassroots scene.”
2023 has seen Joe come to the attention of BBC Radio Scotland, after his single Coffee Shop Dates was named track of the week by Janice Forsyth. Following that, he was invited to play at Dynamic Earth as part of the Edinburgh Festival on live radio and in front of a packed audience. But one show in particular stands out for this year:
“At the start of the year, I said, ‘We need to play King Tut’s this year.’ We managed it, sold out the venue, everyone had a great night. That was a real highlight.”
No doubt another highlight has recording his debut EP, A Series of Safe Spaces, featuring singles Tears, Turning My Back On Nothing and new track Self Esteem. Since its release in June, Coffee Shop Dates has become Joe’s most listened-to track.
“In this industry there’s no guarantee of anything – I’m just someone that’s trying to pursue a dream and I’m lucky to be doing it.”
Joe’s debut EP “A Series of Safe Spaces” will release on 24th November. Tickets to his next gig, the EP launch at Glasgow’s SWG3 the following day, are available now.
Featured Image Credit: Euan Maclean
