I'm from New York, so I'm simultaneously a snob and will also eat any pizza you put in front of me.
I'm a singer-songwriter, but we get loud and we jump around. We have dance moves; we freak out. It's really fun, man!
Seeing what kinds of songs work in other cities and other parts of the world was pretty eye-opening. I know it changed how I approached the second record big-time.
The first album was more born from busking - they were the 'me-and-my-guitar' songs. Going out on the road and opening for big acts changes you. You look out at those audiences and start to think, 'OK, I need to write some music that's a little bit bigger.'
I do radio gigs, three-minute spots, solo shows, so I still get plenty of practice at the sniper attack - me at a piano or with a guitar, having to win people over fast.
When I get back with band, the lights, and the whole production, that's me with the full artillery. A quick radio performance keeps me sharp for the big show.
I had my whole life to write a bunch of crappy songs and then play them in front of people and think, 'All right, that one out of these seven is really good; it's a keeper.' But on this second album, to be honest, I probably wrote about 50 songs where I was just trying to write a hit.
Who are you writing this for? For a commercial reason, or because you want to make great art and give it to your fans?
I wrote my first single, 'Keep Your Head Up,' and that's what got me on the radio and helped me develop a whole base around the country.
Touring is really hard because you're gone for three months at a time.
I saw my dad doing it and thought to myself, 'I can do that.' I would be backstage watching him and running around the country with him singing to children. He would sing songs that taught children really good morals: like, 'Teaching Peace' was a song he used to sing to kids a lot.
You get way better from playing to the passing public. You learn how to entertain. But it took me a good three years out on the promenade to figure that out. You also learn what makes them stop dead in their tracks and what doesn't.
Basketball was every day of my life. Wake up with a ball - sometimes I'd sleep with it because someone told me that was better for you.
I think I was 15 the first time I wrote a good song.
You gain a level of fearlessness performing when no one's there to see you.
You either create something there on the street, or nothing happens. It's brutal. But if you go through that for two or three years, it really toughens you up.
Sure, yes, there are smoking-hot girls. But my girlfriend's smoking hot, my wife, whatever.
I think it would be really brutal to put on a persona and get famous for that persona. Like, 'I'm number one, I'm the best!' because that sounds like a lot of pressure.
I think that's what makes a great show: when the performers onstage aren't putting on a show, they're legitimately just having a freaking awesome time.
The fact that 'Honey, I'm Good' made such a splash and that people were catching it on radio, on Spotify, on Pandora, it's driving everybody to go hear the album.
