J. Tillman

Joshua Tillman
Joshua Tillman, (as Father John Misty) performing at Lincoln Hall in Chicago.
Background information
Birth name	Joshua Tillman
Also known as	Father John Misty
Born	(1981-05-03) May 3, 1981
Origin	Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Genres	Indie rock, experimental rock, psychedelic rock, post-rock, folk rock
Instruments	Drums Guitar Vocals
Labels	Sub Pop Yer Bird Western Vinyl Bella Union Keep Recordings Fargo Crossroads of America Flannelgraph
Associated acts	Fleet Foxes, Saxon Shore, Father John Misty

Joshua Tillman (born May 3, 1981) is an American folk singer, guitarist, drummer, and songwriter, currently performing under the moniker Father John Misty. Maintaining a steady output of solo recordings since 2004, Tillman is a former member of indie rock bands Saxon Shore and Fleet Foxes, and has toured extensively with Pacific Northwest artists Damien Jurado, Jesse Sykes, and David Bazan.

Early life

Tillman was brought up in a Christian household. Before Tillman discovered that he wanted to be a singer/songwriter he had ambitions of being a pastor. On his upbringing Tillman stated: "I was actually a pretty aimless kid, I didn’t really do anything: I never really studied hard and all my parents were interested in was my spiritual status. When I was younger my reality was heaven and hell and angels and all this bullshit that doesn’t mean anything in terms of becoming an actualised human being." After learning drums Tillman picked up guitar at age 12.

Solo albums and work with Fleet Foxes

After briefly attending Nyack College in New York, Tillman moved to Seattle. There, he found a job working at a bakery, which allowed him to record at night before his 4:30AM shift began. A demo he made eventually found its way to Seattle singer/songwriter Damien Jurado. A year later Tillman started opening for Jurado. At shows Tillman would distribute CD-R copies of songs that would later become his album I Will Return. During the tour, he also struck up a friendship with Eric Fisher, who produced another CD-R album, Long May You Run. Both albums were later released on Keep Recordings. Tillman and Jurado both later signed on for a U.S. tour with Richard Buckner.

In 2006, the independent label Fargo Records released Tillman's first properly distributed solo album, Minor Works, and reissued I Will Return and Long May You Run as a two-disc set the same year. In 2007, Yer Bird Records released Tillman's more elaborately arranged fourth album, Cancer and Delirium.

In 2008 Tillman joined Seattle folk rock band Fleet Foxes as their drummer. On his involvement with the band Tillman said: "People have really exaggerated my involvement with Fleet Foxes; they had two records done by the time I joined the band and the writing was already on the wall that they were going to be the next big thing. I just learned the drum parts for their songs and tried to execute them as best as I could."

After signing to independent record label Western Vinyl, Tillman released two albums in 2009, Vacilando Territory Blues and Year In The Kingdom. The following year Tillman released Singing Ax.

After extensive touring with Fleet Foxes promoting their album Helplessness Blues, Tillman played his final show with the band in Tokyo on January 20, 2012.

Father John Misty

On May 1, 2012 Tillman released the album Fear Fun under his new moniker 'Father John Misty'. When discussing his motivations behind the creation of the name ‘Father John Misty’, Tillman paraphrases Philip Roth: "’It’s all of me and none of me, if you can’t see that, you won’t get it’. What I call it is totally arbitrary, but I like the name. You’ve got to have a name. I never got to choose mine." A couple of months prior to the release of the album a video was released for the song "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings" starring Parks and Recreation's Aubrey Plaza. The album was a dramatic departure from any of Tillman's former releases. On how the album came about Tillman said: "I got into my van with enough mushrooms to choke a horse and started driving down the coast with nowhere to go. After a few weeks, I was writing a novel, which is where I finally found my narrative voice…. It was a while before that voice started manifesting in a musical way, but once I settled in the Laurel Canyon spider-shack where I’m living now, I spent months demoing all these weird-ass songs about weird-ass experiences almost in real-time, and kind of had this musical ‘Oh-there-I-am’ moment, identical to how I felt when I was writing the book."

As Father John Misty, Tillman was featured on Kid Cudi's 2013 album Indicud.

Discography

Studio albums

• I Will Return (self-released, 2004)
• Long May You Run, J. Tillman (Keep Recordings, 2006)
• Minor Works (Fargo, 2006)
• Cancer And Delirium (Yer Bird, 2007)
• Vacilando Territory Blues (Western Vinyl, 2009) - UK #191
• Year In The Kingdom (Western Vinyl, 2009)
• Singing Ax (Western Vinyl, 2010)
• Fear Fun (Sub Pop, 2012) (released under the name Father John Misty)

EPs

• Documented (self-released, 2006)
• Isle Land (DVD/EP) (Bella Union, 2008)
• Laminar Excursion Monthly #8 (Procession at Night) (Crossroads of America Records/Flannelgraph Records, 2010)
• The Demos (Sub Pop, 2012) (released under the name Father John Misty)

Singles

• Wild Honey Never Stolen / Borne Away On a Black Barge 7" (Western Vinyl, 2009)
• "Young Lady (feat. Father John Misty) - Kid Cudi" (Indicud, 2013)

External links

• Western Vinyl artist page
• Yer Bird artist page
• Homepage at Autumn Tone Records
• J. Tillman at Last.fm
• J. Tillman at facebook
• Introspection Pays: the Folk Ballads of J. Tillman