When Senior Music major Josh Trimble transferred to Columbia College Chicago in spring 2020, little did he realize the amount of opportunities and experiences he would partake in which have built his steadily rising career in music.
Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and a graduate of Nicolet High School, Josh’s inclination to attend Columbia was sparked by two high school classmates. “I went to high school with a couple of really good musicians, Chad Hunt and Aduarius Stutts, and I always looked up to those two! I found myself looking to move from home and go to a music school out of state, and I saw they went to Columbia. I came and visited, saw them play in the fusion ensemble, and the rest was history.”
As Josh describes his initial foray into music, familial support played a substantial role in his development. “I have been singing for as long as I can remember. I started taking guitar lessons at the age of 9 and wrote my first song at the age of 12. When I was 14, I wrote the song that I consider to be my first piece that transcended my own experiences. I showed it to my father, and he was brought to tears. The song is called, ‘Continuum’ and it was an illustration of how I was caught in this loop of chasing love that was just out of reach.”
Josh’s time at Columbia has been nothing short of spectacular. Taking full advantage of his immersion into the academic curriculum allowed him to be prepared for academic internships within the industry. As he relates, “I have actually done a couple of internships over the past couple of years, and I really enjoyed both! The first was engineering for a podcast called ‘Music Answers’ which was an informative experience in editing and also learning a ton about the music business side of things, simply by listening to the podcast I was editing.”
Josh also credits the instructors at Columbia for their insight and ability to engage with students. According to Josh, three professional milestones have book ended his stay at Columbia. “I've had some great moments at this school. Some of my favorites would be: singing alongside Jonathan McReynolds and having a very vulnerable spiritual moment with a room full of people. Another would be winning 'Biggest Mouth'!! That felt like the most culminating moment. And last, but not least, I would say performing with faculty member Cassandra O'Neal at the APME conference.”
Speaking of the “Biggest Mouth” competition, Josh had a slight moment of trepidation before the event. According to Josh, “The craziest thing that few people know, about was that I almost dropped out the day of the competition.I was practicing my set during the day and I was feeling super self-conscious and thought to myself, I shouldn't even bother. I haven't practiced this stuff enough. I don't deserve to be up there. I had to meditate and pray to find the surrender to just let go of my doubt and enjoy the experience. I went into 'Biggest Mouth' with the intentions of reinvigorating my solo artist work and meeting more people who were doing the same thing. I never imagined myself winning the whole thing.”
As the featured performer on “Sessions @33” this week, Josh was able to reflect on his performance and extoll the benefits of the series. “I think it's super important. People should not take for granted the professional threshold that ‘Sessions @33’ upholds. I've played a couple of radio stations and done interviews, and this experience exceeds a lot of those. It's important to understand that it emulates a lot of what you will encounter in the real world.”
As his senior year comes to a close, Josh shared his thoughts on his future endeavors. "My future goals as follows: graduate college, record my first record, play at venues like Chop Shop, Schubas, and Lincoln Hall, bolster the roster of my record label ‘Soul Clap Studios,' go on tour, record my second record, open for a major artist, and sign to a major label.”
Sessions @33 is a series featuring Columbia College Chicago music artists performing a 4-song set in an intimate performance space at WCRXFM, Columbia’s very own radio station. In addition to the artists getting exposure, students from various departments . Please support these fantastic up-n-coming artists, as well as the collaborative efforts of the students involved behind the scenes, by watching sessions on YouTube, as well as listening to the podcast version on either Apple or Stitcher.
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