Columbus, OhioJosh Krajcik, the 30-year-old finalist of THE X FACTOR from Funk, Ohio, grew up in a little town outside of Columbus that wasn’t even really a town. With just a general store surrounded by some houses, Josh grew up playing in the nearby cow pasture and listening to his dad playing the guitar and singing “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.” Needless to say, being in the big city of Los Angeles and performing in front of millions of people on THE X FACTOR is a long way from home for this small-town boy at heart.
“I always loved music,” Josh says. “We had a piano at one house, and when we moved, we didn’t have one. So my grandma [and relatives] all chipped in together and bought me a piano.” Piano teachers taught him how to nurture his ear, read music, and learn the basics. “I think that was invaluable to have that young instruction because once you know piano, it makes everything else in music easier.”
Growing up, music was all Josh cared for. When he was 12, he got his first guitar from his dad and quickly learned Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” “I dreamed then, when I picked up that electric guitar, of being a rock star,” he says. “Me and my buddies would talk like, `Who would be the bass player?` We had these fantasies.”
He started turning that fantasy into reality when he was 15 and lied that he was 22 to perform in a bar. “It was kind of a rough joint. It was a biker bar, but they loved it,” he says. “I played a lot of country songs and blues songs. I knew then that was exactly what I wanted to do. It’s the greatest thing in life for me.”
Josh started a band called Love Lies Bleeding, but his life changed when he became a dad to daughter Rowan when he was 17. “It was hard being a teenage dad. I was a kid, but I really loved that baby and I loved her mom,” he says. Rowan’s mom encouraged him to pursue his dreams before she left to live with her family in New York. “I played a lot of gigs and did some odd jobs and descended into darkness for a few years – drugs, drinking, women. It was dark. It was bad,” he admits.
In his dark days, he found light in music. “Music was the only thing that helped me,” he says. He burned his belongings before moving to Los Angeles to start a new life. After couch hopping for half a year, things weren’t working out in L.A., and Josh went back to Ohio to live with his brother. He started his current band, Josh Krajcik Band, which wound up playing backup for his friend Gran Bel Fisher, who was a musical guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Even with the TV exposure, things weren’t moving as fast as Josh hoped. His band released a couple of records that didn’t really take off and Josh was ready to give up. Just when he was starting to doubt himself, one of his good friends called to tell him about THE X FACTOR audition.
"I said, `You’re insane. I’m not doing that.` So we talked for about an hour and he had me convinced. So here I am," adds Josh.
“I always loved music,” Josh says. “We had a piano at one house, and when we moved, we didn’t have one. So my grandma [and relatives] all chipped in together and bought me a piano.” Piano teachers taught him how to nurture his ear, read music, and learn the basics. “I think that was invaluable to have that young instruction because once you know piano, it makes everything else in music easier.”
Growing up, music was all Josh cared for. When he was 12, he got his first guitar from his dad and quickly learned Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” “I dreamed then, when I picked up that electric guitar, of being a rock star,” he says. “Me and my buddies would talk like, `Who would be the bass player?` We had these fantasies.”
He started turning that fantasy into reality when he was 15 and lied that he was 22 to perform in a bar. “It was kind of a rough joint. It was a biker bar, but they loved it,” he says. “I played a lot of country songs and blues songs. I knew then that was exactly what I wanted to do. It’s the greatest thing in life for me.”
Josh started a band called Love Lies Bleeding, but his life changed when he became a dad to daughter Rowan when he was 17. “It was hard being a teenage dad. I was a kid, but I really loved that baby and I loved her mom,” he says. Rowan’s mom encouraged him to pursue his dreams before she left to live with her family in New York. “I played a lot of gigs and did some odd jobs and descended into darkness for a few years – drugs, drinking, women. It was dark. It was bad,” he admits.
In his dark days, he found light in music. “Music was the only thing that helped me,” he says. He burned his belongings before moving to Los Angeles to start a new life. After couch hopping for half a year, things weren’t working out in L.A., and Josh went back to Ohio to live with his brother. He started his current band, Josh Krajcik Band, which wound up playing backup for his friend Gran Bel Fisher, who was a musical guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Even with the TV exposure, things weren’t moving as fast as Josh hoped. His band released a couple of records that didn’t really take off and Josh was ready to give up. Just when he was starting to doubt himself, one of his good friends called to tell him about THE X FACTOR audition.
"I said, `You’re insane. I’m not doing that.` So we talked for about an hour and he had me convinced. So here I am," adds Josh.
