Music is the language of emotion – Josh

Josh has been playing bass since 2000, when he bought his first instrument for $50 from a guy named Mike at the barracks of his first Army post. That humble beginning sparked a passion that followed him through 20 years of military service, countless relocations, and more than a few MREs. After retiring from the Army, Josh returned to his roots in West Michigan, ready to dive headfirst into the local music scene and reconnect with the energy of live performance.

His playing style was originally rooted in finger-style bass, with early influences including Adam Clayton (U2), Geddy Lee (Rush), and Robert DeLeo (Stone Temple Pilots). Recently, Josh began incorporating pick playing into his repertoire, channeling the raw, aggressive punk tones of Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver), Mike Dirnt (Green Day), and Mark Hoppus (Blink-182). The result is a punchy, driving style that blends melody and grit — the perfect foundation for Misplaced Memories’ emotionally charged pop-punk sound.

Josh’s musical tastes are all over the place (except R&B, he insists — with some late ’90s nostalgia-based exceptions). His playlists can whip between Rachmaninoff and Rush, Kanye West and The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen and Enya — all in the span of a single drive to practice. He brings this wide-ranging love of music into every rehearsal and performance, always chasing the feeling that first made him fall in love with the bass.

Offstage, Josh is a full-on tech nerd who works as an IT Security Engineer, reads voraciously, and runs for fun (yes, really). A longtime Borussia Dortmund fan, he’s learned to live with the annual heartbreak of losing to Bayern Munich. With one foot in the digital world and the other in the arts, Josh dives deep into photography and videography, and handles all things digital for the band — from building the website and managing social media to creating content and producing video. In a band full of loud energy and emotional release, Josh is the steady backbone… until the distortion kicks in.