Josh Hoyer has never been accused of shying away from heavy subjects in his songs. “My guitar player wants me to write lighter music,” comments Hoyer. “He says, ‘You need some light ditties.’ I wish I was better at that.”
Instead of “light ditties,” Hoyer often addresses current issues of social justice. For example, the title song of Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal’s 2016 releaseRunning From Love on Silver Street Records includes the line, “I wonder if your hate keeps you up at night.” When Hoyer penned the song, the epidemic killings of black people by law enforcement officers were much on his mind. “And Trump was starting to spout his nonsense, too,” Hoyer recalls.