Member Profile

Joshua Zarbo is a musician, songwriter, and music educator based In New York City.

Noted for his tenure as the bassist for Spoon from 1997 to 2006, Joshua played on the band’s albums: A Series Of Sneaks, Girls Can Tell, Kill The Moonlight, and Gimme Fiction. He is the bassist and co-songwriter for the band Monahans. His songwriting can be heard on Monahans’ 2013 releases, Leveler and Roam An Empty Space. Currently, Joshua is Special Projects Manager for Steven Van Zandt's Rock and Roll Forever Foundation.

Recording studio session work includes releases by: Spoon, Sondre Lerche, Bob Schneider, Kat Edmonson, The Band of Heathens, Miranda Dodson, Future Clouds & Radar, and Monahans. Joshua’s bass playing can also be heard on the soundtrack to the video game Undead Nightmare, part of the Red Dead Redemption series produced by Rockstar Games. Spoon’s Gimme Fiction was included on Best of 2005 lists by Rolling Stone, Spin and Magnet. Both 2002′s Kill The Moonlight and 2000′s Girls Can Tell garnered similar critical praise.

Live performance and touring work includes: Spoon, Fred Armisen (as Ian Rubbish & the Bizzarros), David Cook, Bob Schneider, John Vanderslice, The Band of Heathens, Betty Soo, Jon Dee Graham, Miranda Dodson, Future Clouds & Radar, Bee Caves, and Monahans. Joshua’s work both on stage and in the studio has been featured and reviewed in the Chicago Sun-Times, Los Angeles Times, London Times, Magnet, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Pitchfork, San Francisco Chronicle, Texas Monthly, TIME, and many other national and international publications.

Along the way, Joshua has performed on various local, national, and international radio and television programs. Nationally, this includes performances on numerous network television late-night programs, as well as multiple appearances on the PBS music show Austin City Limits. Internationally, he has performed on broadcasts for Canada’s CBC Radio 3 Concert Series, Australia’s Live at the Wireless on Triple J Radio, Germany’s historic music television show Rockpalast, and Britain’s famed BBC Radio1.

As a music educator, Joshua currently teaches at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN and Nashville State Community College in Nashville, TN. Prior to teaching in Nashville, he was adjunct faculty in the Music department and Music Business, Performance & Technology department at Austin Community College in Austin, TX. Joshua has a master’s degree in Music from Texas State University in San Marcos, TX. His master’s thesis, James Jamerson: From Jazz Bassist to Popular Music Icon, details the profound influence of Motown bassist James Jamerson via a historical survey and musical analysis of the legendary musicians’s career and performances.