Joshua Strawn

In the summer of 2019, Blacklist reformed to played a festival show in Brooklyn, NY and alluded to a possibility of future releases and performances. In the winter of 2019 Desolation Colony, an electronic project with Justin Vial, played its first show opening for Italian composer Fabio Frizzi in New Orleans.

In an interview for Vaura in 2019, Strawn referenced cosmic horror, saying, "The nightmare visions that inspired Sables are simultaneously of an omnicide, and of an end to humanity while human beings still continue to exist materially. Humanity being the word we tend to use to refer to our kindness, our ability to understand one another and allow for the existence of others, our ability to be graceful and make peace."

In mid-2012, Strawn launched Azar Swan, a collaboration with Zohra Atash, the lead singer and primary songwriter of Religious to Damn. In 2013, he started a solo project called Vain Warr. In 2016, he launched the record label Primal Architecture Records which has released music by acts such as Kelly Moran as well as his own projects. Azar Swan's album, Savage Exile, was released in 2017.

When being interviewed for Blacklist in 2009, Strawn described his lyrics as "militantly humanistic". Though lacking in many overt references, their album Midnight of the Century alluded to superstition and religion in almost every song, encompassing all three major monotheisms as well as Stalinism and fascism which Strawn has called "political superstitions."

Strawn moved to New York in 2004, and upon meeting bassist Ryan Rayhill, the two formed Blacklist. Blacklist released several recordings on Wierd Records, a label which Strawn was closely involved with from its inception until its conclusion, not only as an artist, but also as a co-thinker and writer. He joined Religious to Damn in 2009, and after Blacklist announced an indefinite hiatus from recording and touring, formed Vaura in early 2010 with Kevin Hufnagel, Toby Driver and Religious to Damn drummer Charlie Schmid.

Strawn has written about his background in political action and organizing, from a brief stint with ACORN in the early 2000s, to being employed by the Human Rights Campaign and the Working Families Party. While attending The New School, Strawn was active with two philosophical organizations, the Nietzsche Circle and the Foucault Society, both created by Nietzsche scholar Yunus Tuncel. He also befriended his professor Christopher Hitchens out of a shared interest in the history of the secularism of the left, and the two were in contact until Hitchens' death in 2011.

Joshua Strawn (born 1976) is a songwriter, record producer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist.