And now here they are, Nick and Sue on Chatterbox.
When the stars talk, they talk to Nick and Sue.
And welcome back to the Chatterbox Redux Podcast
and today our special guest is Matthew Joseph.
This is Nick and Sue with Chatterbox giving you
all you need to know about musical entertainment.
Oh yeah! Chatterbox! The best interviews with
Nick and Sue. Chatterbox! The best news and reviews
for you on Chatterbox! Chatterbox, we're just
lucky enough to welcome Matthew Joseph. Matthew,
welcome to Chatterbox. How are you, sir? I'm
good, thank you. How are you? I'm good, thank
you. Thank you. Thanks for coming on. So, I've
got a very special record, a very special song.
Tell you how old I am, I'm talking about records.
I've got a very special song which we'll talk
about and the story behind it in a moment. As
it's your first time on Chatterbox, could you
tell us a little bit about you? And I know you've
done releases before, so tell us a bit about
yourself. Give us an idea what you've been up
to in the past. How you got here? That's good.
So my name is Matthew Joseph. I am a pop artist
from North Wales. And I've just been building
my career slowly over the last few years doing
like pride shows, new music, a lot of performances
and trying to like build my next stage, which
is an album. headline tour. But yeah, everything's
just become quite busy recently. So yeah, I'm
excited. Brilliant, brilliant. Now we've got
this very special song called Psychic. And basically,
there's the connection here. You make it clear
in your press release, it's not a charity record,
first of all, and your peak to highlight the
issues of early onset dementia. Now, We've been
hit with dementia in my own family as well, but
not to the extent of yours. I mean, my father
was diagnosed with vascular dementia about the
age of 80, early 80s anyway. We did have him
till he was 94. We were very lucky. So of course
I can relate to that, but not to the extreme
that you can. You're talking about at least six
members of your family, including your... beloved
mum Jill, who was your number one fan, was there
for you, went to every concert, just did everything,
she was there, she was loved in every capacity.
So tell us a bit about how the dementia is affecting
you and just give us a picture of how it is for
you with six family members and where that's
leaving you. I think because, I mean, this dementia
genetic gene has just affected so many members
of my family and it sort of brought me to this
stage where I'm thinking you know what how much
time do I have you know if I have this in the
future and so many members have had it and it's
you know it's because they've all passed so young
with it with the early onset part of it it's
it's really sad and I think it's really important
to just do what you love so that's like being
a big passion of mine now is just to you know
push for my dreams and do things that really
inspire me and just make me feel excited, really.
I mean, none of us in any capacity know how long
we've got. I mean, there's always the saying
that you could step out and walk in front of
a bus or something. Anything could happen on
any day. We don't know. So it's always best to,
you know, not hang on to your dreams to try and
make them reality and do what you need to do
and get that bucket just ticked off because you
don't really know. But with this Early on in
dementia, it wasn't until probably a couple of
years ago when I started having friends, wives
and partners who are in their 50s being diagnosed
with it. And there was even one person, I was
38, something really horrendously young. And
of course, it's not an old person's disease in
any capacity. I think in my father's case, fascicative
dementia is more of an aging one, to be honest.
So many different types. um but i mean can i
ask you matthew what sort of age you'll be talking
about with your family members when the diagnosis
came um so yeah what you said is completely correct
i mean you know it's not a old person's disease
and there's so many different types and yeah
my mum was 58 when she passed um yeah it's really
young and i know it's no age is it it's not like
it's you know you have so much time left at this
age and 50, 60, 70 is, you know, to me, I think
the way the world is anti -aging and with social
media and stuff, it's no age, is it? So I just
think, you know, that's such a young age and
her mum died the same age and she was, my mum
was diagnosed when she was 56, 57, I believe,
and I started seeing the symptoms when she was
like 55. Okay. And so hers was quite fast, the
way it developed. um same as her mum exactly
the same timing and everything um but her sister
passed away i think she had um dementia for like
eight years but it's just such a complex disease
isn't it it is but in this terms against the
sort of more age related ones this is very aggressive
isn't it very aggressive yeah very aggressive
yeah yeah What other family members, you're saying
six family members, so you've got your mum and
your auntie, so what other sort of close relatives
should we be talking about here? So there's so
many people that have been affected really, like
my uncle, he's got it now, he's quite young,
he's in his 50s, my other uncle passed away.
you know there's so many cousins and my mum the
number goes further back really because we've
been trying to trace the family tree and to actually
track it and see the you know the actual complexity
of it all how big it is and and there's so many
there's so many members of the family going further
back and you know like cousins that I haven't
met that are like you know Third cousins and
it's been a long time. It's been around for so
long that I Wasn't aware and this is this is
an eye -opener for a lot of people probably I
wasn't aware I think my partner Sue was was aware
when we were talking about you coming on and
Last night. I wasn't aware that it could actually
be hereditary I wasn't even aware of that. I
mean, I could understand the second generation
getting it and it's just lifestyle, but it's
not, is it, apparently? No. And again, it's just
so tricky because I spoke to so many doctors
and I didn't actually go through because when
I was filming the ITV documentary, I was supposed
to see the specialists and then things got changed
last minute because I think the people in the
docu -series were you know that was a very important
fact that they needed to follow up on so we didn't
actually get to see the specialist but um i did
speak to them quickly on the phone and i remember
speaking to my dad and um the the doctor was
like well you know um because i was saying the
women in my family have been affected worse and
um more aggressively like with my mum you know
really fast and then he was like well you know
there's loads of factors um you know if she smoked
or drank and things and My mum did smoke and
drink but her mum didn't and her mum died the
same age and they say environmental factors and
things and I think same with life isn't it all
these things do contribute but they're not going
to be the main cause are they and my dad was
very offended by that because I can see both
sides and I can see that you know these things
can attribute to certain factors and you know,
make things worse. I suppose, you know, if you've
got lung cancer in the family and you heavily
smoke, then you're not going to help matters,
are you? But, you know, like, it's just so complex.
And they said that it's not hereditary in the
specialist and officially to me on the phone.
And as clearly it is. So there's members of my
family that have been tested now. And I've had
the question as to whether, you know, I want
to be tested. And I'm still undecided at the
moment. I do get the thing that you do say in
your press release saying that, you know, what
you're facing now is something that is something,
of course, naturally that you are thinking about
every day. And, you know, one part of you wants
to know, and the other part is, of course, terrified
of what the answer might mean in the future.
And I totally get that. I can understand why
you're sort of not sitting on a bench at all,
aren't you? Really? Yeah. Yeah, because it can
be powerful to have a diagnosis, can't it? Because
if they said, I do have the gene and it's black
and white, and you will definitely have it in
20 years, like the other family members, then
that could be something to, I don't know, that
would be some sort of control, I suppose, and
you can do things differently then. But on the
other side, it could massively affect mental
health, loads of things, and insurances. me and
my partner want to adopt um children and you
know that that would have a massive consequence
on that so it's a it's a tricky one no absolutely
and of course early onset dementia as i mentioned
earlier i wasn't aware of it until uh friends
wives and partners started getting diagnosed
with it in the last couple of years And there
are still going to be people, some of our member
stations listening today to this, who aren't
aware of it either. It could be a young person's
disease as well. So it's a real eye -opener.
I seem to recall when they tested my father,
it was done through blood tests and things. But
have you managed to research it enough to know
how... a test could be done with you to find
out if you've got this gene? I mean does it show
in a blood test or how do they find out? Because
there will be people there thinking oh wonder
if we're affected and they'd be wanting to know
of course. Yeah I mean that was one big question
that I had which I didn't actually get the answer
for but I have done more research on it since
and it's an important question really and I think
there is new research with blood tests for certain
types and I think they do the overall, you know,
when they do the psychology ones and all the
different questions and that's what my mum did
and then the scans as well that can show deterioration
of, you know, the frontal lobe and depending
on which type. So there's a various methods that
they can find out through and I don't know which
one would be the most specific for my mum's type,
but I am looking into it this week and I'm going
to be doing more awareness on it on my socials,
I think, because people people want the answers
after because everyone's got someone in the family
that has something as well and i've had a lot
of people come up to me in the street since the
documentary you know being like how do i find
out my mum had this or my dad had this or you
know i want to know if i've got it how do i know
and then i'm like i don't know right now because
it's so complex per case it's i wish it was so
much easier that i could be like come and check
your arms you know if you have this love and
everybody could It'd be an easy fix, but unfortunately,
it's not. It's quite a in -depth process. But
once I know more, I am going to be putting it
on my socials to create awareness, I think, because
there's a lot of people that would want answers,
I think, like me. With your interviews, maybe
it was unwittingly, you seem quite happy to talk
about them. You are going to be a great ambassador,
and when you're bringing your songs out, people
can ask you questions like I am. Thank you. I
think you want to get the message out because
it is more important that it is important that
people do get tested and find out, you know,
oh no there's that option. That's what I was
thinking about was my father for instance, I
know we're talking about an old person against
early onset dementia, but came back years like
from the time he retired in his 60s and into
his 70s and he was eating all, no he had all
this Health specialist and the doctor surgery
and some and he was eating all the healthy food
now that was supposed to prevent stroke heart
attack and Dementia and yet you still got it,
but we don't have the situation. We're a very
small family I'm an only child. My son is an
only child. My dad despite being born in the
1920s was an only child he father was killed
unfortunately in an accident in the 1950s his
dad died in 1913 due to a knockjaw you couldn't
make all this stuff up so we're all very small
family so we don't actually know if there is
a dementia gene there or not because we were
such a small family and nobody lived to old age
till my father so we haven't got that so whether
i just go and get tested anyway but we just don't
have that to go by no incredible you know And
that is very unique, isn't it? A very small family
like that. My cousin said that you have to get
it for free as well, which is important to know.
If you wanted to check with the NHS, I think
you have to have an immediate family member that
has been diagnosed with it. And because of all
my family members and my cousin now getting that
official, apparently I would get it on the NHS
and fast. but to get to pay I'm sure when I spoke
to the specialist before it was a few thousand
pounds and I think it was like three thousand
I think for the first one and I was thinking
you know some people don't have that many do
they so it's a there's a lot of privilege with
certain parts of being tested than health isn't
there just for another day absolutely no I'd
love to have you back on and chat some more about
it. I know you've got your music side as well,
but it'll always be tied up. You just seem so
sort of clued up with it. That's very important
to a lot of people. Before we move on to your
new single, Psychic, tell us a bit more about
ITV today, the documentary thing you were doing.
Tell us a bit more about that. Was it February
you did that? It was not long ago. No, it was...
Well, to be fair, you are right. It was February
that it was out, but we filmed it in November.
and yeah the ITV documentary because it was it
was my idea because there was a documentary that
I was getting filmed for another TV show that
I can't mention the name of for legal reasons
probably, that we were filming it and I do not
want them coming for me after this week and that's
all I'll say. They were doing a documentary and
they liked the idea of making a TV show about
me making it as a pop star while my mum is ill
because that was her one thing. She was like
a stage mum from America. She was like... taking
me to shows even when I was in my 20s and dancing
front row telling everybody that it was amazing
and she seen that I had star power she said and
she wanted me to be a famous pop star so she
was very active in my career as a stage mom and
they you know they heard of the story and that
she was sick and she was no longer remembering
things and they were like while she still remembers
you and is you know engaging with music and loving
this it'd be nice to do a show um of us following
you up in the race of trying to get into the
charts and while you're going to vegas and maspalomas
and see if you can get there before she passes
away so quite sad of course yeah so that was
the the whole purpose and then that got scrapped
because she died um very rude very rude um and
uh so when she passed and then I thought no this
story needs to be told you know there's a lot
of um it's not spoken about enough and I thought
there was some things coming out in the media
um you know a few presenters from this morning
and you know there was a lot of celebrities like
you know Chris Hemsworth had done a genetic testing
and there was a lot of dementia with Bruce Willis
and stuff excuse me so I was saying that it'd
be really good to do a um documentary about this
and you know to highlight a few of the key issues
and um Yeah, so I contacted my friend who was
a producer and she she loved the idea and then
ITV came on board and yeah, we did it and then
as you know with TV things always change in the
end and Because I didn't really have an active
family member with it. They needed to tell other
people's stories Which is also super important.
So the narrative sort of changed and I didn't
have as much control as I thought but there was
still very important topics in it. So I'm very
proud of it. I'm very grateful. This is Nick
and Sue with Cheddar Box, giving you all you
need to know about musical entertainment. Cheddar
Box! Cheddar Box! Cheddar Box! Cheddar Box! Cheddar
Box! Cheddar Box! Right, let's talk about Psychic
then, the story behind the single, so it's like...
Yes, I'm part two of that question, thank you
for that. So yeah, so then I was releasing music
and the next single I was trying to think, right,
which ones do I have? Because I've always got
like a big box of my demos and which ones are
going to work and which ones are new songs, which
ones I need to revisit. There's always, every
artist has like 50, 60 songs that. And Psychic
was one that I showed my mum in 2021 after lockdown.
I would actively go there every, every few weeks
and be like, man, which ones are these? Do you
like, do you like this? And then she'd be very
critical in a good way. She'd just be like, right,
that one's good. You sound good on that one.
That's a, that's very dancy. And she loved the
dance ones where it was like a bouncy pop song.
And so I played a psychic and she was like, I
love this one. And I was like, I don't know.
It's not, it's not there yet. And she was like,
no, it's, it's really happy and it's positive.
And yeah. So she was really excited about it.
And then I ended up going with another song and
then obviously when she passed I thought it'd
be really cute to revisit this song you know
in her honor because she loved it and um yeah
and it's just an empowering pop song you know
just about trusting yourself and not listening
to other people and it's it's just taken on a
deeper meaning for me you know since she passed
really. Sure and it's great that she's in the
video as well you've done a really good video
with it and I think it's lovely it's just really
special so that's great yeah. we had to have
her in it just little clips because it's really
hard to find clips I was saying to someone the
other day it's really hard to find clips of someone
you know in if someone from like the 90s or 80s
or 70s you know to try and find those videos
from the attic and that that was a yeah that
was a tricky thing to try and find so I had just
lots of mini clips that I could have this together
for the video bless her uh so what's next for
you i mean you've been in the previous years
you've been very active on the pride scene so
is there more even in the usa so is there more
of that because it's only weeks away really we're
april already when you start adding it into weeks
it's not long so um are you more of that around
the place around the world yeah yeah definitely
i think for me it always just comes back to to
music and bigger performances taking things to
the next level more music and I think I've got
a few shows lined up that they haven't announced
yet but there's a few prides and I'm hoping to
release an album so that's that's pretty much
all recorded really I just need to do some final
touches so that will be in May and that is called
On My Mind and it's got various pop empowering
songs like this that are about like mental health
and breakups anything that is challenged your
you know your mental capacity somehow and the
dementia stuff and all these things that I've
been battling, you know, after a breaker, my
mum passing away, thinking about this. So, yeah,
it's all about the music and bigger performances.
And I just love big stages. So I'm always looking
for the next challenge. The bigger, the better
for me, I think, every time. I have no doubt
your mum's watching you. She's still your number
one fan. To be honest with you, you've got the
looks and you've got the sound to make it. You
give a great interview and I'm sure you really
will. I absolutely do think that. I'd like you
to keep in touch with Chatterbox really because
I think it probably was the podcast you heard,
was it? Yes. I could easily be found there. So
just leave a message. I mean, when you got something
coming up, you know, I still want to find your
face, but if not, you know, you can find me there
anyway. So you always leave a message and work
things out from there. So that'd be great. What
about new releases? I know we've got this we're
approaching this now, but and you mentioned an
album. So, yeah, let's just ask you this question.
If you were to come back in, say, six months
time, what would you like to be telling me you've
achieved? I love that question. My boyfriend
told me that I'm not allowed to say I love that
question, but I love interesting questions about
my work. I'm hoping that the album would have
been out, it would have been a success, there'd
have been a few more TV, I'd have been on some
TV shows and doing more interviews. all my Pride
stuff and my performances will have been announced
and it would be nice in six months if I could
say that you know I've just started my headlining
tour because that's the goal isn't it but I want
it to be successful I want to have enough successful
songs that people are gonna really enjoy the
show because I've got my dancers and stuff and
I really like to do a full production I'm like
the Lady Gaga like I do want everything picked
and grown. And I'm probably quite annoying. It'd
be really good if I just got up there with a
mic and a guitar and would do a show every week.
But because I put 100 % into it, I I'm quite
selective of what I do. And whether that's good
or bad, it's just I have that just that moral
capacity like that I want to do things to a high
level. and yeah so it'd be really nice if I if
all that stuff will have come true by that point
successfully and yeah I have lots of music but
I again I don't want to just release just this
is a song every every other month I want to put
my heart and soul into it and really know that
it's gonna mean something you know so yeah the
next song is ready as well so yeah. Perfect.
Are you able to do festivals at all? Yes, but
I always find like because I do everything on
my own at the moment I am pretending to be my
own manager and I do have some family and friends
and I have like my my boyfriend is my fake security
because he's like six foot six and my best friend
yeah he comes and he's very supportive and he
comes to my festivals and prides and stuff and
it's been really helpful actually because before
I was doing it all on my own but he's he comes
and he tells people like you know if they've
got my name wrong because I'm a smaller artist
or if they've put me on the wrong time or and
he will deal with that for me which takes a big
stress off me and my friend who comes my best
friend she's like my assistant and my my you
know my friend who's marrying my brother she
is like my manager and helps me with all the
legal side and emails and stuff so yeah the the
festivals and stuff they they're all helping
me and trying to get on the biggest ones and
there may be some surprises this summer so I'm
excited about that. Can we expect to see you
down at Brighton Pride this year? Are you able
to make that one do you think? Brighton Pride
would be amazing. I have been in talks with them.
I haven't had the confirmation contract signed
yet. How amazing would that one be? I would be
honoured. Biggest cross, let's hope so. Manifest
for me. That's our nearest large pride because
we're not far from there, you know. It's big
now. Absolutely. It's a great city to have up
the road, isn't it? It really is. Absolutely.
It really is. OK. I mean, I did say, you said,
how long would this be? And I said, oh, 15, 20
minutes. But you have been so interesting. That's
nearly half hour. Sorry about that. I don't shut
up this way. That's what we want. That's what
we want. It's been so interesting. And we've
learnt a lot. Absolutely. Before I let you go
though, Matthew, let's do some social media.
How can people find you and take a look at you?
So people can find me on all platforms. It's
Matthew Joseph or Matthew Joseph Official. My
Instagram is Matthew Joseph Official and there's
a link tree in my bio there that has all my links.
So, you know, my Spotify, my TikTok, Twitter,
there's about 12 of them. You know how it is.
It's been great meeting you. It's been a fascinating
interview and let's do it again. Thanks for coming
on Chatterbox and we'll catch you again sometime.
Thank you very much. I would be very grateful
to come back. Thank you very much. Every success.
Take care. Bye bye now. Bye. You've been listening
to the Chatterbox Redux podcast and today our
special guest was Matthew Joseph. If you're interested
in becoming a future guest on the Chatterbox
Redux podcast or the radio show Chatterbox UK,
you're welcome to submit songs, books or whatever
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you very much for your company and we look forward
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Chatterbox Redux podcast. In the meantime, take
care, we thank you for your company and we catch
you then. Bye bye. This is Nick and Sue with
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