We had the good fortune of connecting with Josh McManus and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Josh, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I have a background in music and marketing, and had grown accustomed to the freelance/gig lifestyle before the pandemic hit. After the shutdown, I lost most of my clients and had to take on a full time Director of Marketing position at a startup that very quickly became a 200+ employee company. During this time, my content began going viral on TikTok and Instagram, and the corporate world was becoming very taxing on my mental health, so I decided to take the risk and go all in on music and content creation. Looking back, it was a very impulsive decision at the time.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I put in the grind for a LONG time before getting to this point, and I’m still far from where I’d like to be. I’ve played in four separate bands over the past 17 years, starting when I was 14 years old. I went through the Myspace era, Youtube era, the dreaded Facebook page era, and now I’m finding my success in the TikTok era. Over the years I’ve slept on stranger’s floors, crammed in a van with 5 guys and all of our gear, played in frat house basements and festivals, and never really found the success I was looking for. To say it was difficult would be an understatement.

Last year I originally started creating short form content that focused on the emo and pop/punk niche, as I saw there wasn’t much being made for that scene on TikTok. My fifth video went viral, and things kind of just kept growing from there, especially with gen z re-popularizing the emo subculture at the time.

It was at that point I decided this was a good opportunity to start making music again, so I funneled my TikTok and Instagram audience towards my newly released music and quickly gained 100k streams on my first few releases as a solo artist. I’m now gearing up to play my first show as “isitjosh” in NYC in October!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Not many people know much about Omaha, Nebraska! Most assume I live in a rural area when I say I’m from Nebraska, but I actually live in a sprawling metro with a population of around 1 million. I live downtown, so there is so much going on all of the time, and plenty of things in walking distance (Omaha is notoriously a “driving” city).

At one point we had the most restaurants, bars, and breweries per capita – so there is ALWAYS somewhere to eat or drink. Definitely taking them to the Taphouse for the best cheese curds in Omaha, you have to try them! They are massive. Across the street is the Green Room, my favorite place for a fancy cocktail. In my opinion they have some of the most unique and best tasting drinks in Omaha, and the ambience is very welcoming.

At the top of the list is our zoo! We have one of the best and most immersive zoos in the world, the Henry Doorly Zoo. You could spend days there discovering new things – it’s hard to describe. They built massive eco-domes that simulate the environment the animals are found in. The rainforest is my favorite, it feels so real – and there are monkeys swinging on vines right over your head!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My older brothers, Brendan & Brian, have always been there for me with every wild and impulsive decision I make. It’s hard for me to think of a single local show of mine they’ve missed in the past decade. My oldest brother Brendan is the reason I began playing music in the first place!

They’re always a phone call away when I’m considering another drastic change like moving across the country or quitting (another) job to pursue something wildly different. I will always be eternally grateful for them.

Website: https://www.isitjosh.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isit_josh/t

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshmcmanus/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/isit_josh

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/isitjosh

Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@isit_josh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isit_josh/

Image Credits
emo nite, steinmiller productions

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutArizona is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.