I love heavy music, but you see, I had fallen in love with a radio station in Vegas that played nothing but Eighties music. That had a real profound impact on me.
Nashville is wicked. It's like a proper music community, but it's also quintessentially American. You bump into people there with cowboy hats that spit in jars and call you 'boy.' I just love that.
It was my love for the guitar that first got me into music and singing. Growing up, I was inspired by The Beatles and Bob Dylan. Damian Rice was a huge influence for me musically.
My love songs are very personal and quite weird. They don't really have the big radio hit choruses because basically they're my therapy, stuff I have to get off my chest.
I heard of this Texas studio. The owner, Tony Rancich, wanted to fly us out for the day to see the studio. I booked it the next day. He's that rare guy that is in it purely for the love of it.
I love Barbra Streisand and Sade who've both had careers in soul and I want my music to have that timeless quality that isn't necessarily now.
I've never really been a confident person, except from a musical standpoint. I had to push myself early on, but it got easier with each gig.
Another day another life Passes by just like mine It's not complicated Another mind Another soul Another body to grow old It's not complicated
I go to correctional facilities and talk to kids there. They have little kids in there who are, like, 12 years old, stealing cars and stuff like that.
I'm not the only one in the studio a lot of times, so I have my boys in there and they'll tell me and give me their suggestions and what they think.
I've always known, before I had a record deal, that the thing is to go out and put on the show. I've been doing that from day one.
When I come up with an idea about the way I feel, I can really state it strongly in a song.
For live you need a microphone for the snare and the high hat, the kick drum, a nice stereo overhead and one for the toms - you can get away with using four mikes.
That's really the thing that got me into playing a lot - getting excited about playing along with my favorite bands like Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.
In the early days, I often felt that I was taking a math test when we were playing. It was a profound feeling of having to prove myself.
A conductor can do wild things which can feel forced, but if you're directing from within the orchestra, you can't do that, things have to feel natural.
I have learned from Twitter that you get that instant feedback about what people think about what you did.
I really like singing, but coming from a small town like where I grew up, how do you start that journey?
I was a big troublemaker in the group. I put them through a lot of pain, but as much as I gave to them, they gave right back to me.
No one in the group was really growing up besides me, which is pretty weird 'cause there was no one in that group more self-destructive than I was.
He was a very private person, but then, you know, he belonged to the whole United States. The United States thought they owned Johnny Carson.
