{"id":3986,"date":"2025-03-15T05:05:45","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T05:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/?p=3986"},"modified":"2025-03-10T22:22:41","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T22:22:41","slug":"sofar-voices-meet-josh-savage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/articles\/sofar-voices-meet-josh-savage","title":{"rendered":"Sofar Voices | Meet Josh Savage: When Music Opens Doors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before we dive in, we\u2019re excited to introduce Sofar Voices, where we spotlight different members of the Sofar community \u2014 or the Sofam, as we like to call it. In each edition, you\u2019ll get to know fans, artists, crew, curators\u2026 you name it. If they\u2019re involved in creating the Sofar magic, they\u2019ve got a story to tell, and we\u2019re here to share it. Enjoy!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For Josh Savage, Sofar is more than just a stage\u2014it\u2019s been a launchpad, a home, and a global family. From playing his first Sofar show in Oxford in 2013 to curating Sofar shows in Winchester, Southampton, and Berlin, Josh has dedicated himself to creating spaces where artists can truly be heard. He\u2019s traveled the world with Sofar, performing in over 100 shows across 44 cities, and has seen firsthand how music has the power to turn strangers into family. Whether it\u2019s bringing live music back to Berlin post-pandemic or preparing for an upcoming Sofar show in a Berlin sex club (yes, really), Josh\u2019s journey proves that when artists are given the space to grow, anything is possible<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3987 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/sofar-sounds-blog.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/SofarRotterdamn2019-scaled.jpg?crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=scale&fm=pjpg&h=200&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=300&wpsize=medium\" alt=\"Josh Savage\" width=\"539\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sofar-sounds-blog.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/SofarRotterdamn2019-scaled.jpg?crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=scale&fm=pjpg&h=200&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=300&wpsize=medium 300w, https:\/\/sofar-sounds-blog.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/SofarRotterdamn2019-scaled.jpg?crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=scale&fm=pjpg&h=683&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=1024&wpsize=large 1024w, https:\/\/sofar-sounds-blog.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/SofarRotterdamn2019-scaled.jpg?crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=scale&fm=pjpg&h=512&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=768&wpsize=medium_large 768w, https:\/\/sofar-sounds-blog.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/SofarRotterdamn2019-scaled.jpg?crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=scale&fm=pjpg&h=1024&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=1536&wpsize=1536x1536 1536w, https:\/\/sofar-sounds-blog.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/SofarRotterdamn2019-scaled.jpg?crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=scale&fm=pjpg&h=1366&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=2048&wpsize=2048x2048 2048w, https:\/\/sofar-sounds-blog.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/SofarRotterdamn2019-scaled.jpg?crop=faces%2Centropy&fm=pjpg&ixlib=php-3.3.1 2560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 539px) 100vw, 539px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>Tell us about your connection to Sofar!<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019m a Sofar curator, artist, and fan. I played my first Sofar in 2013 in Oxford, and it was the first time I ever truly felt heard as an artist. That night changed everything. Sofar gave me a platform to grow, taking me from playing in living rooms to touring with Snow Patrol and opening for Robbie Williams in front of 100,000 people. Wanting to give other artists that same opportunity, I founded Sofar Winchester and Southampton to help our local music scenes thrive. Artists today could use all the help they can get, and Sofar has always been a space where they can be seen, heard, and supported. When I moved to Germany and Sofar Berlin shut down during the pandemic, I relaunched it to keep that mission alive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>That is incredible. What makes Sofar special to you?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sofar is a safe space where people come together and experience music as it\u2019s meant to be heard without distractions, without barriers. We\u2019re living through a loneliness epidemic, and even music fans and artists are more disconnected than ever\u2014most people don\u2019t even know the names of their favourite artists in today\u2019s playlist culture. Sofar fixes that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On top of that, small venues are disappearing\u2014only 40% remain compared to the \u201890s\u2014and artists today have fewer places to grow. Sofar is essential because it gives emerging artists a stage without the pressure of selling tickets or marketing a show. All we have to do is show up and play, and that\u2019s incredibly rare.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Definitely. You\u2019ve travelled with Sofar around the world \u2014 how many shows has it been, in how many cities?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">101 Sofar shows across 44 cities in 15 countries. From living rooms in Europe to rooftops in Latin America, breweries in North America, and hidden caf\u00e9s in Asia, every show is different, but the magic is always the same.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Josh Savage - Found in Mexico | Sofar Rotterdam\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OqP1FHJUcQ8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>Wow! And what would you say is the most surprising thing you\u2019ve learned about global music culture?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No matter where you are in the world, music has the power to turn strangers into family. I\u2019ve felt that again and again\u2014like when I went to Russia alone, feeling completely isolated, and after my Sofar show, I suddenly had a room full of friends. The same thing has happened in places where I didn\u2019t speak the language, yet music bridged the gap. That connection is universal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>What\u2019s the craziest thing, or most \u201cBerlin\u201d thing that\u2019s ever happened at one of your Sofar shows?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019re about to host a Sofar show in a Berlin sex club\u2014so that might top the list! But another unforgettable moment was when we had an outdoor show, and during the second act, a sudden downpour hit. My whole team scrambled to rescue the sound gear, artists\u2019 equipment\u2014chaos. A huge storm rolled in, the power cut out, and we had to improvise. The last act played an unplugged set by the glow of our battery-powered lights, with everyone huddled together in a small space. It was unplanned, raw, and somehow made the night even more magical.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3988 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/sofar-sounds-blog.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/SofarSinglesnight2credit@shotbylarita-scaled.jpg?crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=scale&fm=pjpg&h=200&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=300&wpsize=medium\" alt=\"Josh Savage Sofar\" width=\"504\" height=\"336\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sofar-sounds-blog.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/SofarSinglesnight2credit@shotbylarita-scaled.jpg?crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=scale&fm=pjpg&h=200&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=300&wpsize=medium 300w, https:\/\/sofar-sounds-blog.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/SofarSinglesnight2credit@shotbylarita-scaled.jpg?crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=scale&fm=pjpg&h=683&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=1024&wpsize=large 1024w, https:\/\/sofar-sounds-blog.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/SofarSinglesnight2credit@shotbylarita-scaled.jpg?crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=scale&fm=pjpg&h=512&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=768&wpsize=medium_large 768w, https:\/\/sofar-sounds-blog.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/SofarSinglesnight2credit@shotbylarita-scaled.jpg?crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=scale&fm=pjpg&h=1024&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=1536&wpsize=1536x1536 1536w, https:\/\/sofar-sounds-blog.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/SofarSinglesnight2credit@shotbylarita-scaled.jpg?crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=scale&fm=pjpg&h=1366&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=2048&wpsize=2048x2048 2048w, https:\/\/sofar-sounds-blog.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/SofarSinglesnight2credit@shotbylarita-scaled.jpg?crop=faces%2Centropy&fm=pjpg&ixlib=php-3.3.1 2560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 504px) 100vw, 504px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>If you could curate a Sofar show with any three artists, living or dead, who would you pick?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Chris Martin<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 Coldplay shaped my love for music, and seeing him in an intimate Sofar setting would be unreal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Metallica <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(acoustic set) \u2013 Seeing a metal band strip things back is always insane, and Metallica would absolutely kill it unplugged.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Reeps One<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 He\u2019s a Sofar OG, and what he does with his voice as a beatboxer is superhuman. Imagine that lineup\u2014it would be legendary.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Thank you so much for sharing your story with us, Josh! We\u2019re honored to be part of your journey and hope to continue creating beautiful memories together. \ud83d\udc9b<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before we dive in, we\u2019re excited to introduce Sofar Voices, where we spotlight different members of the Sofar community \u2014 or the Sofam, as we like to call it. In each edition, you\u2019ll get to know fans, artists, crew, curators\u2026 you name it. If they\u2019re involved in creating the Sofar magic, they\u2019ve got a story […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":3991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,26,361],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","category-community","category-news","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}