Life is short, so there is no reason why you shouldn't live it to the fullest expression of yourself.
I grew up as an only child, so inherently, most of my life was centered around me. My parents taught me to play well with others and to share my toys, but I was still an only child who didn't have to share my parent's attention with siblings. As great as my childhood was, I always wanted brothers and sisters.
I love coming back home and seeing old friends and family. I would say it keeps me grounded.
Carlos Sosa, the saxophone player for Zac Brown Band, and I worked up two songs for 'When You're Feeling Sick.' They were a blast to work on. The songs are real upbeat and silly.
I've always been the type of person that thinks, 'If someone else can do it, so can I.'
You can be as creative as you want to and build all these cool projects, but ultimately, if they're not successful and you don't have the business structure in place, everything will flop.
The tour is like our bread and butter. You don't really get to experience the band unless you see us live.
It's kind of a Catch-22. The more successful you get, the less normal you get.
My father is a very skilled carpenter. He can do just about anything with his hands. He is very artistic with his carpentry.
I learned real fast that you need to have a plan of action when changing diapers, or it can get dicey fast.
If the people that love you are the people at your side on your last day, and there's not a soul in that room that has any bad words to say about you, well, I'd say Heaven awaits you, my friend.
I've tried very hard to stay grounded with my family, my ol' buddies, nature, music, and creativity.
I got into writing short stories and blogs while on the road.
I can play in front of 30,000 people at Fenway and not be nervous at all. But I get really nervous in front of kids.
I live a life of creating, sharing music with wonderful musicians that I love like family, and spreading a message through music that life is yours to live wide open, and do it your way with love.
I believe 99% of success is never giving up.
It's always hard for me to put the pieces together when listening to a finished album that I was a part of writing and playing. There are so many memories wrapped up in each note and each song that it's hard not to constantly flash back to what made that musical event happen while listening.
The recipe to our success is that you have a bunch of different guys who listen to a lot of different music.
There is an idea that at some point in your career, you 'make it.' I understand the theory of 'making it.' I don't exactly think that it's the best way to look at it.
The coolest thing for me to do was listen to Pearl Jam's 'Ten,' Nirvana's 'Nevermind,' or Soundgarden and play along to it and think about how awesome it would be to be in one of those bands and be up on stage. When I'd close my eyes at 13 and dream of being in Pearl Jam or one of those bands, it was exactly like how it is now with the band I'm in.
