Josh Koterba’s first foray into professional music isn’t a unique story. Josh started out in a band, got it rolling, and then for whatever reason it fell apart. The band name shall remain anonymous; it’s not that important, a band breaking up before it could do anything meaningful isn’t exactly news.

“I was in a band that did a lot of touring,” Koterba said of his former group. "We recorded in The Get Up Kids' studio in Kansas… basically we spent a bunch of money and everybody quit. After that, I was kind of burned out on the whole band thing.”

That’s a small theme in Koterba’s career. Rely on too many other people and it all goes haywire. What he’s found out over the past few years, is when he’s managing everything by himself things are more controllable. He’s found that out with Sail by the Stars, his one-man project.

“Sail by the Stars started in November of ’08, that’s when I put out my first record,” said Koterba running through the facts on SbS’s path. “That’s when it all got started. I started before that, writing songs and stuff but I never took it seriously. After the band, I decided that I still needed to write songs, so I wrote a song and demoed it out… recorded some drums to it, did everything myself with it.”

“When I showed it to a couple of people they said ‘Yeah, this is cool stuff, man.’ Then I thought, maybe I could do a few songs. I finished but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to put it out or not. But I put it out, and that’s when it all kind of started and I figured out that I could actually do this by myself without anybody else’s help.”

Without anybody else’s help is kind of a big deal. Because when Josh has had to have somebody’s help it’s been spotty in a few places. Sail by the Stars got its start with Josh doing all of the work himself, but there was a time when he was ready to make Sail by the Stars a full-band instead of his own project. That didn’t work out.

“In ’09 I had a feature in Alternative Press and a big huge placement on The Real World. Then I brought on some friends to help me out and we marketed it as a full band and not just a solo thing. A few months later, they all bailed on me. Then I kind of had to start again from scratch, and it’s been a building process. I’ve put out a couple of records since then and I’m where I’m at now.”

Josh’s project is a one-man show. He writes with friends and they help, but this is still his project. Almost as impressive as recording and producing his own music, Josh also manages his own career and distributes his music the way he sees fit. There’s been plenty of suitors over the years that have wanted to work with him, but knowing the history Josh has had you can’t blame him for being hesitant about bringing somebody else on board.

Honeslty, Koterba can do without the management. He does just fine by himself. The true obstacle for Sail by the Stars has been getting out on the road and touring. That’s because he doesn’t have the consistency of other people to rely on.

“I definitely say that’s the hardest part about doing it by myself, it’s just not having the other people there to hit the road with. It’s kind of hindered my development I think. I haven’t toured anywhere near as much as I’ve wanted to because I don’t have the resources to hit the road any time I want. I think that’s starting to change around now and people are actually wanting to do it though, which is really cool.”

Sail by the Stars is Koterba’s priority push and it’ll likely stay that way, but in recent months he’s released music under a different moniker and with a different mentality. That release comes in the form of the ridiculously named (albeit appropriate) Sh! It’s a Secret.

“That’s just me dickin’ around with pop music,” eloquently stated Koterba on his other project. “I’m originally from Omaha, Nebraska. My friend Alex came down to visit me just once and we worked up a pop song. We originally were going to try and do a hardcore song just to be goofy. We did the song “Just Move” and we did it in a grand total of 72 hours from getting the idea to putting it on iTunes.”

There was nothing serious about the inception of Sh! It’s a Secret or the debut EP, but the reception of the music has been surprising. After getting a huge front page feature on PureVolume.com, people have taken notice. Don’t expect that to change Koterba’s mentality with the venture.

“Basically we took the approach as ‘what would I do?’ and then do the opposite,” laughed Koterba. “That’s the secret. It’s kind of a joke, I just don’t take it seriously at all. I was really fortunate to have PureVolume hook me up with a huge feature that I had last week. That kind of pushed it out there and I kind of have to take it a little more seriously. As far as plans for that go I have no idea, I’ll just put some songs out and see where it goes.”

Plans for this year are being laid out for SbS and (maybe even Sh! It’s a Secret.) The big focus this year will be touring.

“Officially I can’t say anything yet,” started Koterba. “But there’s going to be some festivals and stuff like that I’m going to be a part of. I’m really going to work on playing out this year, especially the spring and summer. I’d like to get a new record out; I’ve got an EP that I’m working on and I’d like to get that out there during the summer. The big thing this year is touring out.”

Regardless of what’s next, what Koterba’s built out of some mild wreckage over the past few years is pretty incredible. He makes a living and supports himself and his young family with his music. Maybe those are the only people he needs to rely on.