INTERVIEW with Joe Buscema: Manager of Set It Off, Bearing, LNDV and more.

On this occasion, we had the opportunity to interview Joe Buscema , a renowned manager who has worked with bands and artists such as Set It ...

On this occasion, we had the opportunity to interview Joe Buscema, a renowned manager who has worked with bands and artists such as Set It Off, Late Night Drive Home, Ryan Woods, Bearings, Say Anything, The Dangerous Summer, SayWeCanFly, Locket, and many more.

Before we jump into the interview, we’d like to share a brief overview of Joe’s impressive career, which spans over a decade. His journey began as a musician, and by the age of 13, he was already working with promoters and booking his friends' bands as opening acts for larger shows.

Joe’s passion for music started at the age of 4 when his father played "Down on the Corner" by Creedence Clearwater Revival at full volume in their home, sparking a fire inside him.

By the age of 7, Joe picked up the guitar, and by 9, he was playing the drums. At 11, he started his first band, and by 13, he had recorded his first studio album and performed live on stage for the first time.

For over a decade, Joe worked alongside various singers and bands, helping them grow and achieve success, including Set It Off.

In recent years, he has focused on Late Night Drive Home, a band that recently celebrated 100 million streams of their hit song "Stress Relief." The band has performed at major festivals like Coachella, Shaky Knees, and Austin City Limits, toured internationally, and signed with Epitaph Records.

With that said, we’re excited to share the full interview with you now!

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• You evolved incredibly fast within music from a young age — learning guitar at 7, drums at 9, starting a band at 11, and playing live and recording in a studio by 13. Do you ever wish you had spent more time pursuing your own career as a musician? Or did you feel early on that there was something pulling you toward a different path — one that would eventually lead you to help launch major artists like Set It Off and late night drive home?
• Honestly, I believe with all of my heart that everything has unfolded the way that it’s supposed to. I had a blast playing in bands and it was fun while it lasted. Towards the end, it felt like I was trying to “swim against the force” and the energy that I was feeling was very much of “it’s time to enter the business side and hang up these guns”. I still love being creative, I wish that I had the chance to play drums more often but I enjoy creative writing. I had the pleasure of managing Set It Off but I want to be clear that I did not launch their careers. I was very fortunate to play my part in them signing to Fearless Records for two albums and helping with their album “Midnight” come together. Regarding late night drive home, it’s such an honor to be on this journey with them. They did an amazing job of getting the pieces in place and I feel good about building a business around what they started and helping to expand their careers. 
• At just 13, you were already working with promoters and organizing shows. What drove you to get involved in the "behind-the-scenes" side of the music world at such a young age?
• It was just an overwhelming feeling of “this is SO cool!” I remember being a kid and just wanting to play shows, go to shows and be friends with people who went to shows. I didn’t have much of a friend community at school and I was kind of an outcast punk rock kid. So, when I started playing shows with my band and making friends with other bands, I just wanted more of it. My passion for live music definitely moved my feet and next thing I know, it was my entire world.
• In those early years of your career, from booking shows to working with bands — what are some lessons you learned back then that still guide your work today?
• How small the industry is, what not to do (take myself too seriously) and to have a strong “why” for what I do. Purpose, meaning, fan focused experiences and not just “how can I turn a profit?”
• Your first major experience as a manager was with Abandon All Ships, a band that quickly started gaining traction. What was it like managing a group on the rise? Do you remember that moment when you thought, "Wow, we're really doing this"?
• First major moment and first band that I ever managed, haha. I was 17 years old and I found them on MySpace in the basement of a Toronto suburb. My friend, who later ended up playing in the band, was kind of making fun of them. He played 10 seconds of what ended up being their biggest song and I just knew that they were destined for something big. I was about 18 when Universal Music Canada was messaging us on MySpace and other people in the music business were snooping around. Truthfully, I had some solid instincts but I had no clue what I was doing. They went with different management but I stayed close friends and became their tour manager a year later. It felt like the band was getting bigger with each passing day in 2009 and we started getting head nods from our peers, which was crazy. I remember skipping a day of college to go with them as they opened for A Day to Remember in London, Ontario and that was about as wild as it could get for me at that time. ADTR being my favorite band of that time (still love them). Also, their tour manager came up to us and asked for a demo that (I believe) he gave to Dave Shapiro who ended up really opening doors for the band. Every day was a new adventure and it was so exciting. It’s very much the same as how I feel about late night drive home.
• Growing up as a musician yourself — how has that shaped your approach to artist management today?
• I know what it’s like to have a dream and have someone not fully suit up and show up for it. I know what it’s like to be let down and I know what it’s like to cry after your band breaks up that you’ve put everything into. I do not want that for the artists that I represent and I take their music and careers very seriously. 
• When discovering new talent, what makes an artist or band stand out to you? What’s that “something” you look for that makes you want to commit and invest in their journey?
• So much and so little, at the same time. A big piece is “do they already have an idea of who they are?” With late night drive home, I was ready to be a fan, and I became one for months before I spoke to them and we started working together. They had an identity that was clear and I could tell was evolving. There was a theme, a vision so clear and most of all, most importantly, the music is incredible. I think there’s plenty of artists who are talented but they don’t know who they are and how to start presenting themselves. I think that LNDH has known it all along. 
• You've been doing this full-time for over a decade now. How has your way of working — or your perspective on the role of a manager — evolved over the years?
• I think that coming out of playing in a band, my approach, although was well intentioned, was much of “I’m going to insert myself as a member of the band that doesn’t play in the band”. That approach was cool and helpful while it worked, but I was A.) Taking away the light from artists and B.) Not giving space for other members of the band to step up and come into themselves. Now I simply see myself as a manager, a creative partner who helps push the business forward and take that burden off of the artists. 
• Let’s talk about late night drive home. How did you go about taking a young band from El Paso all the way to stages like Coachella and Austin City Limits?
• As I’ve mentioned, I think they were off to an incredible start when I met them. My initial mission was/ still is “how do we build a business around what they started and what they are doing today?” A great first step is touring, so we did a couple of support tours and by the time we were halfway done the second tour, it was clear that they were ready to headline. Once we started the headline tour, it was clear that things were really taking off as shows kept on selling out. The Los Angeles show specifically sold out in three days which we were all very impressed with it, and the show in New York sold out well in advance, too. Once we had that data, we positioned the band to play festivals, since the vision has always been to be an international festival band. Most importantly, getting the band in with co producer Sonny Dipperi was a huge move in getting them to take what are now going to be the next steps in their career. 
• What advice would you give to a 17-year-old who's passionate about music and wants to become a manager? Is there something you wish someone had told you when you were starting out?
• I was lucky to receive a lot of great advice but what I can pass along is: Do it because you love it. Vision and belief will carry you. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Remember that you are leading people. Not brands/ logos, etc.. human beings. Every decision and every bit of guidance must be made with the reminders that these are people.
• Focusing again on late night drive home — after hitting major milestones like Coachella, ACL, and signing to Epitaph Records — what's your next big goal? Is there a dream you've been chasing for a long time that still fuels you?
• We have been very lucky to do some amazing things at a nice pace, but we are just getting started. The band and myself have dreams of headlining festivals around the world and selling out arenas. When that’s the common aim and everyone is working towards it, these things begin to feel possible. 
• You’ve said that "it starts and ends with the music." What does that philosophy look like in your day-to-day work?
• Without the actual music, we have nothing. A band can look, act, be cool. However, the music has to be amazing. It’s important for me to help inspire the artists that I work with and honestly just encourage them in my own unique ways. Art is many things, one being a recorded emotion of someone’s human experience. That can be very scary for someone to fully open up and be vulnerable. Encouragement goes a long way for people to open up in any situation, especially when it’s being shared with millions of people. God speed. 

With this, we conclude our interview with Joe Buscema, and we would like to extend a big thank you to Kelly W. and the team at Evolve PR for making this interview possible.

Joe Buscema. Manager.