Meet Justin Emord

Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Emord.

Hi Justin, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My journey as a musician started in elementary school, specifically in 4th grade as that was the year my school hired a music teacher. I began in the symphonic band as a piano player and grew a fondness that playing classical and symphonic pieces provided as well as the found family of being part of something bigger than myself. As my skills developed and I moved forward through school, I became eligible to join the jazz band. Growing up with grandparents from New York, big band and swing music was part of my vocabulary even with the language of music not being something I exactly understood at an early age. Through jazz band, I eventually picked up guitar and bass along the way and found myself holding different roles inside the music department as a result. This created a passion in me that has continued to this day. Currently, I’m 10+ years deep with my blues rock group Love and a .38 and coming up on three years with the pop-punk influenced group The Pride.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As is the case with most arts, music is not without its struggles. Playing bad gigs with bands you aren’t necessarily sold on being your brothers in arms with creatively can weigh on you and go without being fully fulfilled is part of the norm to gain experience and kinda figure out the do’s and don’ts of being a working musician.

In more recent times, the pandemic served as a major struggle and hurdle for the arts community everywhere. As a matter of fact, the Pride played its first show ever less than a month before the world shut down. While it was unfortunate to say the least, it did allow us the time to dissect that one performance, retool the songs and be stronger for when we were able to get on a stage again.

For me personally, I also took that time away from the stage to personally grow not only as a musician but as a creative. A trip to Joshua Tree in early summer 2020 provided a creative spark I didn’t know I needed and I was able to come back home not only with a new hobby but also refreshed to get to work on the Pride’s debut album.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My creative work is as both a musician and now a photographer. Love and a .38 has been my longest passion project, going on over 10 years. We bring a modern edge to the guitar hero rock music that excited us and made us fall in love with the rock n roll genre at an early age. We’ve played everywhere from Mexico, tours across the US including the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas as well as Canada and Sweden. The Pride is a newer band, officially beginning in 2015 when singer and former Love and a .38 bassist Daniel McGuffey was on the TV Show Master Chef and wanted to drop an EP while he was on television. He tapped .38 to record the parts and then he dropped it while his season was airing. After that, Love and a .38 continued playing and recording until the end of 2019, Daniel gave myself and Ryan Hudson (Singer/guitarist of Love and a .38) a call to make a serious run at being a consistent band with some new material he had been working on. The Pride’s DNA as a band stems from Daniel’s love of pop punk music as well as UK band, the Wildhearts, blending catchy vocals and harmonies with hard-hitting guitar riffs.

Photography is something I’ve been around practically my whole life. My mom has been a photographer for as long as I can remember and has done many of the photoshoots I’ve needed to do for my gear sponsors through the years as well as photographed practically every band I’ve performed in. My own personal love of photography came back in 2018 on a visit to Japan, specifically a night hike through the torii gates of Fushimi Inari in Kyoto. Something about that night set something off in my mind and ever since, photography, primarily landscape photography has been a love affair of mine. Much of my free time these days is spent researching new locations, editing images or out in the field trying to better my craft.

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
To me, success is happiness. Are you happy with what you’re doing and where you’re at? That’s success. While I do take much pride in the accolades, accomplishments and awards I’ve received through the years being creative, the personal satisfaction I get from playing a good show, contributing to writing a solid song or framing up the perfect shot behind my lends is really where it’s at. For me, it doesn’t get any better than that.

Pricing:

• Band T shirts: $19.99
• Photo Canvases: Starting at $59.00

Contact Info:

• Website: loveanda38music.com
• Instagram: Justin_emord, loveanda38, followthepride
• Facebook: facebook.com/loveanda38 facebook.com/followthepride
• Youtube: youtube.com/loveanda38
• Other: https://www.canvasworld.com/search/Justin-emord/?nr=t