Menu
Music is a weapon in the war against unhappiness.
But my strength was in singing and songwriting, which was a new discovery for me when I was 18. And I decided if I pursued songwriting, which is what was closest to my heart, then there would be no competition. I would just live my life being myself and living my dream.
I always think of the live show first, where the song is gonna go in the show. That’s why they aren’t sad songs. When I play, I want to make people happy, not sad. It’s such a pleasure for me to do what I do, and I want other people to feel some form of that pleasure, too.
It’s easier to write from my own life, and it’s also more fun. I always write about relationships, for instance, whether they’re romantic relationships, friendships, encounters… there’s always a lesson to be learned from them.
If I’m in a relationship, that girl gets showered with letters from the road. I pour my heart into it.
In my relationship, I was giving myself away to make the relationship better, but in actuality, wasn’t doing better by doing that. I became less of a man.
I’m totally into new age and self-help books. I used to work in a bookstore and that’s the section they gave me, and I got way into it. I just loved the power of positive thinking, letting yourself go.
Music was always the distraction, so it was the obvious choice to pursue. My dad always said to find a job I love to do, that way it wouldn’t feel like a job. So I did that.
I listened to the radio, so I was influenced by everyone from Michael Jackson to Milli Vanilli. But thankfully my dad had a collection of Cat Stevens albums while my mom was listening to jazz.
Well, my view before was a Western view, and I certainly understand marriage equality and civil rights, equal rights for all, but having visited developing nations and some of the poorest nations in the world, I realize how deep it goes and how much work really needs to be done to create equality for all.