Mark Joseph is a busy guy. The Outer Sunset resident performs and writes music for multiple bands, and has been seen onstage at an array of San Francisco venues such as The Great American Music Hall, where his band The Human Condition held an album release party not long ago.
Tonight, one of Joseph's other bands, The Missing Pieces, will jam onstage at Hotel Utah. Missing Pieces is scheduled to take to the stage around 9pm as part of a line-up that includes Gold Minor and John Travoltage.
Joseph is now 33 years old. "I was born on November 26th, 1982 in Arcadia, CA," he tells us. "I moved to San Francisco at age 17 under the guise of attending college, with the express intent of finding a solid group of people to make music with."
He's done quite well, performing with a variety of bands and making a name for himself on the local music scene. Joseph is also a poet—his collection of poems and his short story "Born to Be" will be available in the zine section of North Beach's City Lights Bookstore at the end of this month.
Joseph's love for music began at an early age. "I grew up in a house where it was common to have Bob Marley or The Beatles blasting on the weekends," he recalls. "I remember listening to and loving my grandma's Perry Como cassettes when I was a kid riding shotgun in her Cadillac around L.A. Then in high school, I was exposed for the first time to local bands and punk shows, which showed me that my dream of a life of music was a tangible one."
These days, Joseph finds his musical inspirations in his adopted city. "I am still primarily inspired by local artists," he said. "San Francisco has top-notch bands and artists writing and performing everything from acoustic country to hip-hop and electronic music; the blending of styles and cultures in this city is boundless and continues to amaze me. San Francisco has always and will always have some of the most unique voices and sounds to offer the world. Folks who don't go out to local shows here are missing out on an entire history of inspiring music that is begging for discovery."
Joseph says that music is both a physical and emotional outlet. "I'm on a crazy journey and I get to share that with people in musical fragments along the way. Ideally if my music conveys anything, I hope it helps folks to realize that we all have feelings and voices that are legitimate, unique, and deserve to be expressed as well as heard."
Part of Joseph's inspiration might come from the Outer Sunset, a neighborhood he has come to love.
"I've lived in the Outer Sunset for five years now, and it's perfect for where I'm at in my life," he said. "I live in a house we call 'Pink Deadly' with creative roommates, including the Rev. Nate Harris (bandmate in The Human Condition and The Missing Pieces) and my kitty-cat Gray. We have an awesome backyard for barbecues and get-togethers and have been known to host backyard shows from time to time."
"It's great to live in a place where both the ocean and Golden Gate Park are just a short walk away," he continued. "There is ample public transportation in and out of the neighborhood, and it's the kind of place I find it easy to relax when I get home."
Photo: Judahlicious/Facebook
The Outer Sunset is a wonderful secret waiting to be discovered, according to Joseph. He enjoys the coffee at Trouble, which is located at the end of Judah Street, and loves the healthy foods to be found at Other Avenues and Judahlicious.
"Good Asian food of all types is available just about anywhere you go," he pointed out, noting that there were more food options on Noriega and Taraval. "Plenty of tasty options out there!"
Then there's the fog, which is not a problem for Joseph. "You'd be surprised at how much sun we actually get in the Outer Sunset, but when it's chilly and foggy, I find it rather romantic," he said. "It really sets a great mood for hunkering down and getting creative."
The Missing Pieces.
As our chat began to wind down, Joseph let us know what to expect at The Missing Pieces' Hotel Utah show tonight:
"The Missing Pieces is a five-piece rock n roll outfit that I founded, write, sing, and play rhythm guitar for," he said. "The players are a dream team of guys to be working with: Nate Harris (The Human Condition, MORE) on guitar and keys, Dave Hagan (MORE, Coyote Call) on bass guitar, Billy Riordan (The Quiet Men, My Revolver) on guitar, John Pringle on drums. We're sometimes more acoustic and bluesy, sometimes extra loud and rockin'—tonight's Hotel Utah show will be loud and full of guitars."
Joseph added that The Missing Pieces' debut album, House of Days, would be available in February. (The Human Condition, one of his other bands, released a debut album in October.)
Joseph notes that it can be a challenge to juggle rehearsals and appearances with multiple bands. "Working with multiple bands at the same time is both a pleasure and a challenge," he said. "Being successful at it for me means having multiple outlets available for different styles and approaches to songwriting and presentation, as much as it means spending almost all of the time I'm not at my day job bouncing between band rehearsals, practices, studios, and shows or focusing at home on writing emails and working on new material."
"Luckily, creating, performing, and recording music is the thing satisfies me the most," Joseph said. "If I wasn't constantly active with creating new music I think it likely I'd be a rather unhappy person ... it's just something I have to do."
