Kaleb Justice Interview with Canvas Rebel

CANVAS REBEL interviews Kaleb Justice

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kaleb Justice a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kaleb, thanks for joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

“I would say as of this moment yes, I am happy but I am not content. I feel like being an artist comes with its highs and lows naturally. One day you write the best song ever or play to a sold out crowd and then the next day you are sitting by yourself, guitar in hand thinking, WTF I am literally the worst guitarist ever lol. I think that is part of being an artist/creative though, you try and fail and keep moving forward because you know eventually you will succeed. Its about how much you believe in yourself and your art. I think that is the most important part. It is being so insanely passionate about your work that you know you will succeed, while always knowing you can improve yourself.

That brings me to the next question. Yes, I wonder constantly what it would be like to have a “regular job” or have a “normal life”. Being in my early 20s, I have friends graduating college, getting married, having kids, buying their first house, starting their careers, and “settling down”. I wonder what life would be like if I turned left at that intersection rather than going straight. Where would I live? What job would I have? Who would my friends be? Would I be in love? and most importantly, Would I be Happy? I think about this all the time and try to convince myself that I would be happy but I know deep down inside, I would be miserable. I know I would constantly wonder what if I just had gone for it and committed. I hear people say all the time, “When I was younger I COULD have, oh IF ONLY, I had SO MUCH POTENTIAL, BUT this, BUT that”. And it drives me insane. I think to myself, why? Why did you stop? Why didn’t you keep going? After hearing that all my life, I said to myself, “You know what, I’m gonna be that one dumb Mother F***er that said screw it and went for it! I want to be that person that everybody looks at and thinks is an idiot, because those are the ones that will succeed. In the beginning, everybody thought Steve Jobs was insane, until he wasn’t. I don’t know, insert anybody successful into that line and it works. Y’all get what Im saying. I’m tired of typing.”

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

“Hey, I’m Kaleb Justice – lead singer of the rising Atlanta rock band Frigga Five and I truly believe that becoming an artist was deeply rooted in my DNA. Having a talented musician for a father and gifted artist for a mother, I was destined to become who I am today, and I am inspired by them both. In fact, my Mom raised me based on the underlying theme from the hit movie, The Matrix. She taught me that in order to achieve my goals it required fully believing in what I was doing, a willingness to give 100% to achieve success no matter what and not allowing any doubt to enter my mind. I always took that to heart. Just like Neo in The Matrix – who was challenged to jump from one building to the next without any doubt in his mind that he would make it and if he didn’t fully believe he would fall to his death– I trust in myself and look for ways to stay focused on my dreams.

I thrive in anything that allows me to be creative, but I was always drawn to the guitar. As an infant, my dad would lay me down on top of his guitar and let me strum away and feel the vibrations through my body. I think somehow my parents knew it would become a major part of my life based on the mini photo shoot of me lying next to a guitar when I was only 4 months old. I remember when I was 8, my dad brought home a plastic guitar that had 5 colorful buttons on the neck. He gave it to me and said, “Have fun.” I proceeded to plug this plastic guitar in to my PS2 and the rest is history.”

“Every day after school I would play Guitar Hero until my thumb got blisters – then I would switch to my index finger until it blistered too – then I would switch back to using my thumb. There was a point where I started to feel disconnected from it all because I was tired of playing other people’s music and felt stuck playing the same songs over and over. I wanted to do my own thing and felt it was time to start creating my own content.

So, I picked up the guitar and started writing music and lyrics. The songs sucked – bad! But I was so happy and knew if I just kept going, I could eventually share them with other people. So, that’s what I did. I would show them to anyone in school who was willing to listen.

~ For the record – I would like to apologize to them right now for putting them through the misery of listening to all those shitty songs lol. ~

It wasn’t until 2019, my senior year of high school, that I finally felt like I had some material worth releasing. So, on April 17, 2019, I released my first single under Kaleb Justice titled “The Light”. The feedback was extremely positive, and I suddenly felt like I was on to something. I started producing and releasing more pop/R&B style music, but always felt like the songs were missing something. I decided to focus on my writing and for the next 3 years I sat in my studio, day after day, creating albums and recording drums, guitar, bass, and vocals by myself. At some point – probably after failing over and over – I realized that I didn’t want to do it by myself – I needed a team – I needed camaraderie. I needed a band.

The songs were written, and everything was ready to go – I just needed a group of people to join me and take part in this crazy dream of mine and rock the fuck out! I took my time and started scouting for people by going to live shows and networking. I asked anybody and everybody if they wanted to play with me. I even played guitar in other bands hoping to gain some connections. Nothing seemed to work, and it was honestly one of the most frustrating times in my life. I knew the songs were good, I knew they needed to be heard, I knew I could try to do it all myself, but I didn’t WANT to do it by myself! In my heart, I knew I wanted to share this experience with a group and accomplish these goals together.

For a while, I started to think that maybe it just wasn’t meant to be, but those thoughts would piss me off and I would end up saying, “Fuck that!” – I BELIEVED – as a matter of fact – I knew what was going to happen and I just needed to be patient and wait for my time to come. Eventually, I found a bass player and for almost a year it was just the two of us. One day, out of nowhere, I get a call, “Hey man, I’ve been thinking, I want to play guitar for you.” That was all it took – the spark was lit! Now I just needed a drummer. I made one last ditch effort to try to get a good friend to change his mind about joining us after repeatedly telling me “No” a thousand times before. I called him and asked if he would at least consider it and give it a shot and – without hesitation – he said “Yes”.

WTF was going on??? The stars were aligning!!!

In October of 2022, our band had its first rehearsal. I quickly shared my songs and we got to work practicing every week until our first show a couple months later in December. That was the biggest moment of my life. I was playing songs I wrote in front of a crowd of 10 people. I remember walking off that little stage after the set and having to take a moment to myself as tears were running down my cheeks saying to myself “I did it”. The dream I had for so long became reality. The idea wasn’t just a note scribbled on a piece of paper – it was REAL.

For the past year and a half, Frigga Five has been grinding away and, in 2023, we played over 20 shows in Atlanta and Athens – selling out 2 of them. We also recorded an album with 2x Grammy award winner, Josh Monroy. As of March 2024, the band has released 3 singles and played to a sold-out crowd of over 625 people at The Masquerade in Atlanta in February.”

“All this to say – I believed in myself and this band 100% and still have no doubts in my mind about what we can accomplish. I made this happen through hard work, dedication, and a psychotic mindset knowing that I can achieve anything if I set my mind to it and put in the work.

Now would I consider myself done?

Absolutely not.

This is just “Step One” – and I got a whole mountain to climb. But I know if I believe in myself, without a doubt in my mind, step-by-step, I’m gonna make it to the top of that fucking mountain!”

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

“I think the ultimate goal for me is to be financially stable and able to take care of my family and friends whilst doing what I love to do. Nothing would mean more to me than being able to give back to my Mom what she has done for me and get her anything she needed. “Do what you love to do and the money will come” (Roman Atwood)”

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

“I think one of the most rewarding things about being an artist is being in touch with my inner self and emotions. I dont always understand it but when ever I am feeling sad or happy or anything in between. I am able to pick up my guitar play some chords, write some lyrics and feel better. If i feel alone I can litterally write a chorus screaming my heart out saying “IM ALL ALONE” or if im feeling happy i can write “I LOVE YOU” Etc.. I think thats the beauty of being an artist, is being able to express your self and your emotions and ideas through your art.”

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