Take advantage of the connections you make and don ’ t forget to hustle outside of school. What ’ s some advice you ’ d give to those interested or that have just started studying music in NYU?
I want to be able to expand and find new ways to open up my creativity when it comes to writing and performing. I am also making a concerted effort to start picking up the guitar. Thank you! I learned cello as a kid but never stuck with it, so I would love to revisit that. You ’ re a really skilled pianist, are there other instruments that you play or you would like to learn in the future? If I don ’ t have that time, I wont be prepared to play and it ’ ll hit me as I walk on, “ oh shit! I ’ m in front of a lot of people right now. All I need is about 5-10 minutes by myself to get into the headspace of the show. On top of all that, the sound is just wonderful in there.ĭo you have some sort of routine that you do before you perform live? Also, the stage is spacious and I love how the venue itself is laid out. Firstly, the venue has so much history and some of my favorite artists from the 70 ’ s played that stage. When I left London I missed the new friends I made, a couple of the local pubs I frequented and my favorite curry spots. I had a couple walks I love to take when I ’ m home in New York. Well I missed my friends, my local bodega, and my favorite pizza place. I love the book ‘ City of Thieves ’ by David Benioff as well as books by Michael Chabon.Īfter living for a few months in London, were there things from New York that you missed when you were living there? Are there things in London that you miss now that you ’ re back in the US? I became a big fan of Raymond Chandler and all his detective noirs as I was staying in LA. What are some artists in other disciplines (not only in music) that influence you? I think it sounds so beautiful and I love the way the song crescendos and the tasteful way in which the instruments enter. Is there a particular song of the 70 ’ s that you like?
It was music that I had been waiting to hear my whole life and every song went to places that I was longing for them to go. Yes 100%! I was hooked on ‘ The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars ’ when I was about 12 and I started writing music shortly after that period. Do you think 70 ’ s music has been an important source of inspiration for you? The sophisticated harmonic and melodic elements of your music take me back to the 70 ’ s. My manager thought it was a great song, apparently, and sent it along to Zane Lowe ’ s people and a few days later it was playing on BBC. The main purpose was to share with people and see what they thought and if they believed it was a song worth going along with. I had recorded ‘ Hold the Phone ’ on my iPhone as sort of a demo to show my management this new song I had completed. What ’ s the story behind ‘ Hold the Phone ’ and how did it end up on BBC Radio 1? It was a great feeling! I Snapped the whole experience! I was in a thrift store in Kensington Market, a neighborhood in Toronto. It wasn ’ t until this past year that I heard myself on the radio.
It was a song that was comprised of all the black keys and had a faint construction of a melody but was tweaked minimally every time, due to my lack of understanding of which note was which.Īnd then, after a few years, how did you feel the first time you heard one of your songs on radio for the first time? Yes, I had an improvisational piece, which I dedicated to my aunt who had just passed. I loved the sounds that I could create with it, though I wasn ’ t very amused by my lessons in my early years, but stuck to the instrument and improvised on it whenever I had the chance.ĭo you remember some of the early compositions that you created when you started in music? What was your first impression of a piano the first time you were in front of one? However, it wasn ’ t until I moved to New Jersey and was paired with a new teacher, who made learning fun, as well as a lot of time spent in the car listening to music, that I really made a concerted effort at being a musician. I took piano lessons at a young age and was fond of singing. Whether the memory is of a conversation, a relationship or something I witnessed on the street, I let that settle in for a while and it inspires me to write and consequently it allows me to move on. Well I guess I get stuck on things from my past and that manifests itself in my songs. You put so much sentiment into your songwriting! How do you get inspired to write those epic lyrics?
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