EDINBURGH 2023: Josh Weller Q&A

BWW caught up with Josh Weller to chat about bringing Age Against The Machine to the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Tell us a bit about Age Against The Machine.

I'm a failed musician. I signed to Universal when I was 23 years old and was dropped within a year.  Age Against The Machine is my love letter to music, and all the mad and ridiculous stories from my time in the music industry. How do bands try to write hit records? What is touring really like? How does trying to 'make it in the music business' really work? Was my music terrible?! Almost certainly...

What inspired the career change?

My old band was on the Vans Warped Tour in America, which is this giant summer punk tour. 46 shows in 58 days with bands like Sum 41 and The Offspring. One day in California there were no people at our gig, but the microphone was turned on so I started roasting all the passers by and by the time our gig started the room was FULL. That was the moment where I thought 'oh s**t, I'm in the wrong job'. So I quit music and started Stand-Up, did probably 700 comedy gigs and now I'm here!

With their being your festival debut, do you think you know what to expect from the Fringe?

Probably not, but I'm excited to find out! 

Who would you like to come and see it?

Elvis Costello, Black Flag, Randy Newman, Nick Hornby, Phil Collins, and the cast of The Breakfast Club. But I'd be equally ecstatic if the room was full every night.

What would you like audiences to take away from it?

Hopefully a bucket of involuntary, bowel erupting laughter, and also a warm, nostalgic fondness for pop music. From its birth in the 1920s to the cocaine insanity of the 1980s all the way up to Taylor Swift. If people go home from the show and bang on some Genesis, wrap a tie around their forehead, throw on an oversized business suit and sing into an old car phone, I'll be very happy indeed.

Josh Weller’s debut stand-up show ‘Age Against The Machine’ is at the Pleasance Courtyard – Below at 7.10pm from 2nd – 28th August (not 14th) for tickets go to www.edfringe.com

Photo credit: Steve Ullathorne

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