WOW! YOU DO THE SYNTH PROGRAMMING, VOCALS, GUITARS, ALL THE PRODUCTION, MIXING AND MASTERING YOURSELF? IS THIS BECAUSE, "IF YOU WANT IT DONE RIGHT, YOU DO IT YOURSELF?" OR JUST OUT OF CONVENIENCE?

Hahaha its because if you want it done right you gotta do it yourself. Plus I've been in bands before and it was a nightmare. I was the one writing the songs, and different people in the band would complain "well I don't like this section of the song". Ofcourse I just got sick of it, I thought to myself "I'm the only one writing the songs here, if you don't like that section of the song then write a song your fucking self". So I decided screw this I'm doing everything myself, and told them all "I'm outta here good luck!".

WHEN DID YOU FIRST START GETTING INTERESTED IN INDEPENDENT FILMS?

Actually the independent films came to me. There are only about four. They came to me and said I love your stuff I want to use a song in my film. Another wanted to me to score it so I did.

WHAT INDEPENDENT FILMS HAS YOUR MUSIC BEEN INCLUDED IN?

One was called "Through My Eyes", I had one song in it and scored the film as well. Another was called "Craig" and the third called "Pantheon Black", a Sci Fi Flick. There is a fourth coming out in 2010 called "Tour De Force". You can look them up on imdb.com It shows up under Joshua Steffen, not Halo In Reverse.

AND YOU'VE ALSO DONE SCORING FOR INDEPENDENT FILMS AS WELL? HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THIS FOR?

Just that one film, I'd like to do more. It was actually a lot of fun. You have the film so your watching the scenes and writing parts as the film goes along. Its a blast really.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN A MEMBER OF ANOTHER BAND?

In the past, no one anybody would ever hear of, thank god. Ha!

TELL ME ABOUT THE NEW RECORD DEAL YOU JUST SIGNED WITH ALFA-MATRIX, DID THIS JUST COME OVERNIGHT, OR WAS IT A LENGTHY PROCESS?

Hmm.... I can't really get into that right now, its just recently happened, it would be uncouth of me to do so . All I can say is keep an eye on the alfamatrix website. www.alfa-matrix.com

YOU WRITE SOME GREAT SONGS, NIN DOES COME TO MIND WHEN LISTENING TO YOUR MUSIC, ESPECIALLY WITH SONGS LIKE "SWEET AS HONEY"... IT'S FUNNY THOUGH BECAUSE I WAS THINKING IT'S EVEN BETTER THAN NIN, AND THEN A COUPLE DAYS LATER I READ SOMEWHERE ELSE THAT THE REVIEWER THOUGHT THE SAME THING. WHO ELSE ARE YOU INFLUENCED BY? DEPECHE MODE WOULD BE ONE RIGHT? BEING THE NAME "HALO IN REVERSE" IS FROM A LYRIC OF THEIRS..

Oh god yeah I loooooooove Depeche Mode. Probably one of my favorites of all time besides Peter Gabriel who think takes the cake. I love T-Rex, old Black Sabbath. There is so much I listen to all over the place. Nick Cave, Tom Waits to the "stoner rock" like Kyuss, Fu-Manchu, Electric Wizard, The Truckfighters. Good stuff man good stuff. I recently went to go see The Reverend Horton Heat over at the Stone Pony at the Jersey shore. Those guys are simply amazing, I listen to them whenever I can, I absolutely love them. Live... they where no joke, just right on the money. That guitar player is just mind blowing, he has amazing chops.

YOUR WRITING SEEMS LIKE IT IS INSPIRED BY PERSONAL EVENTS, IS THIS TRUE? AND OUT OF ALL YOUR WORKS, WHICH WOULD BE YOUR PERSONAL FAVORITE AND WHY?

Yeah everything is inspired by personal events. I'm not sure which one is my favorite to be honest with you. I don't really have a favorite. It would probably be Go All The Way, that was a horrible moment in my life, and I think I portrayed the way I was feeling at the time pretty well.

HOW MANY SONGS HAVE YOU WRITTEN?

There are a bunch man, kind of all over the place.

"POP ICON PUPPETS" IS PRETTY BRUTAL... GIVE US YOUR THOUGHTS ON POP CULTURE…

Pop culture is the bane of our country. Pop culture is the reason nobody has any idea what is going on in their country or with their politicians. I mean...... how many "reality" shows are out there right now? Its pathetic, its mind melting drool for morons, and the amount of people that try to mimic these people in these reality shows is mind blowing. They think this is really the way people are supposed to live. Its also told people (the same with Myspace) that the goal in life is to become "famous", and generally speaking, famous for doing nothing. Much like Paris Hilton or Kim.. what's her face with the ass so huge it has its own gravitational pull... famous for doing NOTHING. They polled teens around the country as to what they think "The American Dream" is. The Majority replied "being famous". How pathetic is that?

I KNOW THAT THE GEAR YOU USE IS LISTED AT YOUR WEBPAGE WWW.HALOINREVERSE.COM ... IS THERE ANYTHING NEW YOU'VE COME ACROSS THAT YOU LIKE ALOT?

Eh... I haven't really been purchasing synths. I'm really happy with what I have. The best thing I'd have to say in my arsenal is the Universal Audio DSP cards and plugins. Best investment anybody could ever make. I have 3 of the UAD-1 cards and just recently picked up a UAD-2 Quad card. The UAD-2 Quad card gives 10 times the DSP of one UAD-1 card. The plugins they make for these things are just soooo sweet. I picked up the Neve 88rs channel strip plugin, the SSL channel strip and SSL buss compressor. Also the Imperical Labs Fatso. I mean..... being able to have a whole Neve 88rs console or an SSL G4000 console whenever I want is pretty ridiculous. These plugins sound like their hardware counterparts to a T. I mean right on the money. Although I have to say I prefer the Neve 88rs channel strip over the SSL. The EQ is much smoother and nicer, the compressor and the gate all just sound better to my ears. The buss compressor though is killer. I'm actually remixing everything for the Alfa-Matrix release using the Neve 88RS channel strips along with the Fatso and the SSL Buss compressor, along with some of the other stuff that Universal Audio makes. Pultec EQ here and there when I need it, 1176 compressor sometimes, and the Fairchild Com- pressor.

IS THERE ANYONE ELSE INVOLVED IN THE PRODUCTION OF YOUR PAST MUSIC FROM START TO FINISH?

Nope just me, every one in awhile I call my manager Jamie Myerson when I'm stuck on something in the mix and I need some advice. He's a phenomenal producer and really knows his stuff.

HOW DO YOU, OR WILL YOU GO ABOUT PERFORMING LIVE?

I will be doing live shows eventually, I'm still trying to put that all together, its going to take a bit of time though.

WHO IS YOUR MANAGER, AND HOW IS THAT RELATIONSHIP GOING?

Jamie Myerson. He's a great guy. He used to be on Ovum records with Josh Wink and King Brit. He was really one of the first people here in the US, back when Drum and Bass was big in the UK, he was the only one doing it here in the US. Ofcourse that was awhile ago, the stuff he works on is light years ahead. He is just a great songwriter / producer and engineer. He really knows his shit.

I READ THAT WHILE GROWING UP YOU DABBLED IN OIL PAINTING, PEN & INK ETC., DO YOU STILL CREATE ARTWORK TODAY?

Geez I haven't created anything in awhile all my time is spent on music really, art wise.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE MUSIC ENVIRONMENT IN PHILADELPHIA?

It blows big donkey dick. The music scene in Philly is either Rap/Hip Hop, or whatever the hipster scene kids are listening to these days. Generally very boring.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IN GENERAL?

The indie section of the industry is not that bad. The major labels out there are there to rape the artist, that is about all they are there for.

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR AND NEXT, NOW THAT YOU HAVE THIS RECORD DEAL?

Getting the CD finished and mixed, and getting the 2nd CD finished. After that.... I have an 08 Mustang that I plan on working on, putting in some twin turbos and other upgrades. Then taking it down to the track to do some drag racing.

WELL I WILL DEFINITELY BE KEEPING MY EYES AND EARS ON YOU, AND WISH YOU ALL THE BEST WITH YOUR FUTURE PROJECTS.. IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO ADD?

Yeah, I just went to see Inglorious Bastards and it was f'ing great! (haha, this question was wrote before you posted the blog about the record deal) Hehehe I'll skip this next question since I already answered the question about the record deal. LOL! Thanks man for this opportunity! -josh

Interview by G. Cataline