Hello again my friends in 311 nation! It’s time for the last fan spotlight of 2023 (Yes I’m taking a break for the holidays). Let’s finish up the year and meet Josh Callan!
The song “Down” was the first song that Josh ever heard when it was played on KROQ. He wasn’t a fan at first but the more he heard it, the more it grew on him. “By the time KROQ started playing All Mixed Up and Don’t Stay Home I was hooked and went and bought every album they had at the time.”
Current show count for Josh is 138. His first show was December 12th, 1999, at the Las Vegas House of Blues. “That includes all 7 cruises, every 311 Day since 04 except 06 (new job kept me from going), Pow Wow, and a couple Halloween shows (2001 & 2017). Overall I’ve been to probably like 600-700 concerts in my life, maybe one day I’ll figure out that exact count.”
Favorite show for Josh, it’s hard to narrow down because there are so many that mean a lot for different reasons. He said the most important to him is without a doubt the Red Rocks show in 2010, because that is where he met the love of his life, Kristen. There are some others that also mean a lot to him. “The first sail away show had an energy that I don’t know will ever be topped. 311 Day 04 & 14 for the length of show and setlist, and Pow Wow just for the experience of it all (and Transistor of course). Another one I enjoyed, not necessarily because it was a great show but very different one was Warped Tour 2019 in Atlantic City. It was the last year for Warped and they did a few two day events around the country. SA’s mic was out the entire set which really sucked, but at the same time ended up a great memory. Whenever it was his time to shine, half the crowd was booing the Warped sound crew, and the other half were singing what we should have been hearing SA sing. His mic never worked but by the time they closed with Down he figured it out and started sharing with Nick. On one of the switches he almost didn’t get it back to Nick on time. When everyone heard SA’s voice for the first time that day the crowd erupted. I felt bad for anyone that hadn’t seen 311 before but for me it was an interesting and in a strange way enjoyable set.”
Picking a favorite song for Josh he said would be impossible. He said “Universal Pulse” will always be important to him because when it was released in 2011 he started traveling a lot to follow 311 and meet up with friends he had made the previous year. “Stereolithic is another one because 2014 is the summer Kristen and I went Facebook official and possibly the tour that I went to the most shows on. That’s also probably my favorite album and a shame that it’s basically been ignored since the year after it came out.”
Josh said he has always been bad at learning song lyrics, but from the first time he heard the lyrics to “Speak Easy” they’ve always been special to him. “I’ve always loved being in, on, or near the ocean. Over the years a couple things have made them even more meaningful, and after Kristen’s Runt Rant last week we can add another reason why I love that song and those lyrics. Another lyric I love that I see everyday is “I’d say you hung the moon if they ask me.”
Long Island, New York, is where Josh was born but his family moved to Los Angeles, California, when he was just 2 years old. So he grew up in Burbank where all the movie & T.V. studios are. “That led to some cool encounters with actors at my school and stumbling across many different sets of things shooting in my neighborhood.” Once Kristen and Josh decided to not be long distance anymore he made the move back to Long Island. “I moved back to Long Island and have been here about 9 years now. It was the easiest and at the same time one of the hardest decisions to make…and as much as I miss my family and friends back home, it is the best decision I ever made. I work a normal 9-5 type job doing final quality control for labels for medical trials. It’s a job I enjoy (most of the time) which is always a plus.”
Fun fact about Josh is that they filmed “The Wonder Years” at his junior high school and they were occasionally used as extras. “I don’t think I ever ended up on screen but they would give us Wonder Years t-shirts for hanging around in the background. One episode I remember being a part of was when there was an anti-war protest and everyone was on a grass field singing (I believe) “Give Peace A Chance.”
Josh said that while he isn’t sure this makes him unique (some people think he’s weird) that he can have a conversation with just about any living creature. “We have built a decent size garden in our back yard and I’ll be out there thanking the bees for pollinating, the worms for helping us grow everything we plant, or just chatting with the birds and butterflies for no reason at all. I guess I can add to this that at one point my beard was more known than I was, to the point that we had pictures of it on our phones and on a stick to take pictures with. Sometimes I would get pics of people that I didn’t even know (and they probably didn’t know why they were doing it) with my beard on a stick.”
As for guilty pleasures, Josh said he has none because if he enjoys it, he doesn’t feel guilty about it. “That being said, a few things that people have (or may) give me a hard time about…I’m a big fan of Richard Marx, I love watching Boy Meets World, and still watch Beverly Hills, 90210 sometimes.”
As for other musicians that Josh is into, it’s a big list because like many 311 fans, music is a huge part of his life. “Some favorites are The Beatles, Nirvana, Tupac, Passafire, Bad Religion, The Interrupters, Less Than Jake, Social Distortion, The Police, Bad Rabbits, Rage Against the Machine…I grew up in the 90’s going to punk shows so 90’s and punk is my true music love but I like almost anything (no country), I was just listening to Dolly Parton’s rock album she just put out and loved it.”
To 311, Josh would like to send this message: “Thank you for going on so many amazing vacations with me, for leading me to so many of my closest friends, and of course, for being the reason I met my wife, Kristen Misner.”
Now here are his words to all the other 311 fans out there:
“Be excellent to each other.”
Many thanks to Josh for sharing his story with us all! Of course, my eternal gratitude for those who read each week. Hope you all have an excellent holiday season. See you in 2024!
Much Love – The Runt