Joshua Strawn

Joshua Strawn was born in a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa, grew up in Roanoke, Virginia, and currently resides in New Orleans, Louisiana. In Roanoke, Strawn met Jeremy Kolosine of the seminal electropunk band Futurisk, who was then playing in a dream pop/shoegaze band called Shakespace. Kolosine invited Strawn to join the band, first as a keyboardist, then later as a vocalist and guitarist.[1] Simultaneously, Strawn took up playing bass in the Diplomats. Shakespace recorded one EP [2] and one album, while the Diplomats recorded an EP which was mixed by R.E.M. veteran Mitch Easter. The Diplomats disbanded before the EP was released, and Shakespace disbanded during the recording and mixing of their last album.

Strawn moved to New York in 2004, and upon meeting bassist Ryan Rayhill, the two formed Blacklist. Blacklist released several recordings on Wierd Records, a label which Strawn was closely involved with from its inception until its conclusion, not only as an artist, but also as a co-thinker and writer. He joined Religious to Damn in 2009, and after Blacklist announced an indefinite hiatus from recording and touring, formed Vaura in early 2010 with Kevin Hufnagel, Toby Driver and Religious to Damn drummer Charlie Schmid.

In mid-2012, Strawn launched Azar Swan, a collaboration with Zohra Atash, the lead singer and primary songwriter of Religious to Damn. In 2013, he started a solo project called Vain Warr. In 2016, he launched the record label Primal Architecture Records which has released music by acts such as Kelly Moran as well as his own projects. Azar Swan's album, Savage Exile, was released in 2017.[3]

In the summer of 2019, Blacklist reformed to played a festival show in Brooklyn, NY and alluded to a possibility of future releases and performances.[4] In the winter of 2019 Desolation Colony, an electronic project with Justin Vial, played its first show opening for Italian composer Fabio Frizzi in New Orleans.[5]

Due to the diversity of Strawn's musical endeavors, the influences he has cited span multiple genres, including Scott Walker, The Comsat Angels, Black Sabbath and Cocteau Twins, the Manic Street Preachers, Ulver, Blut Aus Nord, Comus, the Sisters of Mercy, Prurient, Kate Bush, David Sylvian and Laurie Anderson.

When being interviewed for Blacklist in 2009, Strawn described his lyrics as "militantly humanistic".[6] Though lacking in many overt references, their album Midnight of the Century alluded to superstition and religion in almost every song, encompassing all three major monotheisms as well as Stalinism and fascism which Strawn has called "political superstitions."

In an interview for Vaura in 2019, Strawn referenced cosmic horror, saying, "The nightmare visions that inspired Sables are simultaneously of an omnicide, and of an end to humanity while human beings still continue to exist materially. Humanity being the word we tend to use to refer to our kindness, our ability to understand one another and allow for the existence of others, our ability to be graceful and make peace." [7]

Strawn has written about his background in political action and organizing, from a brief stint with ACORN in the early 2000s, to being employed by the Human Rights Campaign and the Working Families Party. While attending The New School, Strawn was active with two philosophical organizations, the Nietzsche Circle and the Foucault Society, both created by Nietzsche scholar Yunus Tuncel. He also befriended his professor Christopher Hitchens out of a shared interest in the history of the secularism of the left, and the two were in contact until Hitchens' death in 2011.

While living in New York, Strawn worked full time as a social media analyst for ad research firm Competitrack, and part time as a freelance journalist. His writing on politics, music, and culture has appeared in The Daily Beast, Talkhouse as well as in feminist publications such as BUST, and Slutist.