Meet Justin Wiesinger | Songwriter, Author, Filmmaker, Investor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Justin Wiesinger and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Justin, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Art and creativity have always been a huge part of me. I had a rough home life growing up with my parents being constantly at each other in verbal shouting matches and unrest in the home. I deal with a lot of trauma from my childhood to self medicate by creating meaningful art to share with others. I decided to pursue an artistic career to help inspire others to do the same. I had this thought that one of my videos, short films, or songs could stir up energetic courage into someone else and help them take the next steps to express themselves in a healthy way too. Art is a way of leaving a legacy and leaving something behind too. Creative work is a way for me battling against the frustrations I have with our current political culture in a positive way. I have this fear of “What if I don’t create this song or release this – someone might lose hope” and that drives me to excellence in everything I do.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I started a media production company almost by accident in 2013. I had a friend who I grew to know through performing at local shows. I saw such a wild, raw talent in him and a tenacity and drive that was unparalleled. I recalled a story from Bob Goff’s book about coming along side someone on their dream in a time of need – and lay down your own dream to help someone else, even for a season, on theirs.

My friend Paul had some amazing covers that he needed to share with the world. I asked him if he had thought about starting a Youtube channel to share some of his songs. He said he had but didn’t have any help, and couldn’t afford to pay anyone to help him get started. I took a pause on my own music dream to help Paul get some momentum on his dream. We started out by taping up our iPhone 4’s to benches and tripods to get extra angles to film. I did all of the filming and editing. I recall shooting music videos on Pirate ships at our local WEM mall with dozens of friends, filming in crowded restaurants, and winning half a dozen major prizes for showcases where we applied for with our videos.

Paul turned his part gigging passion into a busy fulltime music career. He’s moving to Nashville soon to work with a development agency to take his music to the next level.

The main challenge for me was the money. I worked a fulltime job while I helped Paul for hours each week for a number of years. I heard someone say – maybe it was Zig Ziglar – if you do more than you’re paid for, soon you will get paid for more than you do. And that concept really stuck for me. I had faith that I would be taken care of for doing this noble task. Things would work out for both of us.

Word started to spread after our videos on Paul’s channel started to gross tens of thousands then hundreds of thousands of views! Other local artists wondered who the heck shot all of these epic videos. I started getting DM’s and texts from artists in town asking if they could pay me to do work for their upcoming music releases. I agreed.

One thing lead to another and before I knew it I was a full time filmmaker! I was as busy as I wanted to be, and everyone wanted a piece of my talent and creative work. I shot nearly 300 videos in the course of the first 3-4 years of doing video full time. Since Covid, my video work slowed right down and it caused me to pause and reflect on one of my greatest lifelong passions – music. I took it upon myself to write and record my first pop album which is being released this summer on June 28th called Wonderlove. It’s been fun to direct many of my own music videos as well. I’m excited to transition my main focus into my pop music project this year. I love learning new things and growing and I’m completely stoked and overwhelmed at the same time! What a ride!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Most people might go to the big cities for a getaway or maybe the Rocky Mountains which is only a 3.5 hour drive from our home. I’ve been trying to get my best bud Paul, who I mentioned earlier, to come out to our air bnb at our lakerage (It’s a new word I invented) We have 2 acres on a beautiful lake 1 hour Northwest of the big city of Edmonton. We have a successful air bnb on our property here – which is nearly fully booked year round. I’d take Paul to my favorite Barrhead joint – West of the 5th – for some tasty food and some delicious locally brewed moonshine cocktails. We’d play a show in town, drive to my favourite thrift store in Barrhead that my friend Drey owns, and buy some old records and DVDs. We’d probably head back to the bnb and throw on some tunes – watch some 80s movies – go longboarding around our hilly paved neighbourhood, and do some songwriting over some homemade coffee and kombucha.

I rarely like leaving my own yard cause to me and my wife and two daughters believe it’s literally paradise. We he’d hit our cedar sauna for a daily evening chat, and laugh until we lost our voices, as we recall the craziest stories from our younger years. We’d get up to some serious board-gaming with our kiddos, and probably marathon a trilogy like John Wick or Back to the Future. We’d go off-roading in my Jeep and hit every breakfast cafe in town!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to give a shoutout to one of my favourite authors – Bob Goff. He wrote a book nearly a decade ago called “Love Does.” That book was a game changer for me in so many ways. It’s as if he gave me permission to be my authentic self. I felt like I was reading about someone who thinks the same way, acts the same, and is so passionate and energetic in the expression of their work and faith, I realized that people can accept the wild and ambitious, risk taking aspects of my personality and outlook, and I don’t have to live like “Justin Light” If people can’t accept me for who I am, they aren’t meant to be in my circle of influence. Reading Bob’s crazy stories inspired me to write a better story with my life in every way possible. Love Does inspired me to do things in life worth writing about. He inspired me to write my first book in 2019 – The Childlike Heist.

Website: https://zez.am/justinwiesinger

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justin_wiesinger/

Linkedin: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/justin-wiesinger

Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamwiesinger

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/justin.wiesinger

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JustinWiesinger

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@iamwiesinger

Image Credits
Red Car Photos – Sarah The Photographer – @shotsbysarahthowsen Band Photo – Chris Dahlberg