2012 promises to be an exciting year for London based singer-songwriter John O'Shea. After years of performing as a solo artist he has bough together guitarist Rosie Botterill, laid back bassist Chris Pinkston and down-to-earth drummer Anna Thomas to form a four piece rock outfit named JOS, giving his songs a new lease of life. After a few months of rehearsing in 2011 John O'Shea and the newly assembled band were ready to hit the gig circuit with their first gig at The Water Rats in January 2012. Playing songs which John wrote 10 years ago and has not yet heard performed, it was a momentous and emotional night. He recalls “When I came home I must have gone to bed about 12:30 and I just stared at the wall until about 4 o'clock in the morning. It blew my brain”. I join them at their third gig at the Dublin Castle to see how it's all settling in.
As I arrive Camden's Dublin Castle, slightly late courtesy of the London Underground engineering works, I am met by exuberant guitarist Rosie who fills me in on the current situation. The band were supposed to have sound checked by now but due to the unexpected disappearance of the headlining act the running order for the evening has become confused and sound checking has over run. Musing that a life in rock 'n' roll is never uneventful, I follow her through the bar and into the venue to be greeted by the sight of glum looking musicians, bored of waiting around. JOS have changed their slot to first as Anna and John are both ill, John with a bad throat. Being the first band to play means being the last to sound check so I sit with Rosie and watch a band who clearly want to be Iron Maiden perform their sound check. Most entertaining. As they finish and the next band begin to set up, I suggest to Rosie that we make use of the surplus time and go somewhere quieter to talk. She agrees, poses the idea to the rest of the band and in no time we're headed to the bar next door, buying drinks and gathering around a table to chew the fat on the topics of song writing, internet marketing and the music industry in general.
