Joe Jeremiah, also known on YouTube as JammyJoh is one of Trending All Day’s favorite artists! We told you a little bit about JammyJoh’s sick YouTube series, “A-Bit of 8-Bit” and we were lucky enough to score an interview with Joe himself!
1. How long have you been playing music?
- I started playing piano when I was 12…so I’m in my 13th year.
2. Who was one of your biggest influences growing up?
- If the internet was a person I would say the internet. I’ve definitely learned the most from that guy. But if I’m picking a real person I might say my grandad who one day sat me down and showed me a video of Ray Charles playing the blues. Up until that point i was only really aware of piano being a “classical” instrument. That video set me on the path to where I am today as a keyboardist. Props to my parents also who hae always been supportive of my music.
3. Do you prefer working with a piano or keyboard?
- Honestly, while I’m more popular for synthy stuff, I have to say piano. It’s nice to be able to sit down and just play without having to tinker with all of the synth parameters and stuff.
4. What’s the most difficult song you’ve covered?
-Hmm…Bohemian Rhapsody is always a big task. I’ve covered that numerous times.
5. Take us through your thought process of song selection.
- I’m always scanning the comments to see what people are into and, especially recently, I’ve been watching trends to see if anything cool is on the horizon. I have to take into consideration whether the song will translate into 8-bit or piano. And ultimately I have to enjoy the music.
6. On any given day, what’s playing on your Spotify playlist?
- Lately I’ve been into Vulfpeck, who are funky AF.
7. What inspired you to create the “A-bit of 8-bit” series?
- In 2013 I was trying to come up with a “YouTube Cover Series” inspired by people like Eric Calderone and Sungha Jung. I had put up a few random piano things on YouTube but there’s a million piano players, I wanted to come up with something a little different to get my head above the crowd. I thought the geeky, gamey, memey side of 8-bit could work and plus, it’s reasonably quick to produce.
8. What do you want to work on next? Any new projects?
- Well, I just started a new series, “Joe & the Beast with 88 Teeth,” which is a piano covers series. That’s nice because I get to show off some piano stuff again.
9. Can we expect new 8-bit material soon?
- No doubt. I’m starting weekly uploads in July with 8-Bit and piano stuff taking alternating weekends.
10. If you could choose just one, name one musical artist you’d love to collab with!
- I’d probably have to go with someone like Smooth McGroove or Eric Calderone. Those guys are the example that I follow for geeky cover artists on YouTube. Oh wait you only wanted one…I’ll go with Eric.
We had so much fun talking to Joe and we want you to check out all his amazing music on YouTube!
