I have this unyielding desire to do high-quality work.
I always, always go to my brother Rhys's house whenever something goes wrong and he'll always say 'you'll be alright, forget about it.'
I can write a happy song, but there has to be some sort of twist. Otherwise it feels a bit cheesy.
I'm very lucky to have signed to Island records U.S.A. It's one of those pinch yourself moments.
There's a cafe in Mosman near where I lived and if I have any days off I go there at 10 in the morning with my notebook, sit in the same chair, order the same breakfast and coffee, write my thoughts down, and chat, have the same conversation with the owner.
I spent five years watching every Noel Gallagher video that was on YouTube.
You can write a song for someone, and then their mom doesn't like it, and then it doesn't get released. It could be the best song that you've ever written. I hated that, because I didn't have any control.
I've been writing a lot of sad songs, and I got to the point where I was like, 'You can't write another one or you're lying.'
I just want to prove myself.
Especially with 'Be Alright,' that's about a bunch of relationships and some people that I'd never even met, there was some stories friend and family had told me over the years, that I put into the song.
You write for other people and it feels you're giving a little bit of yourself away.
I didn't really gig my way in. I was just in my bedroom writing songs for so long.
I grew up listening to Oasis and The Verve; English music was huge in my house.
When you first start out, it's a big thing you're always like 'does my voice sound good?'
When I recorded 'Waves' I was in England, and I was there for months.
Having all this success in Australia is life-changing and incredible and has given me the opportunity to come to the U.S. and get started over here.
So, I would write songs... I sort of loved it and hated it in the sense that I would be like, it's never good enough, and I didn't think it was that good, but I always kept striving to write better and better stuff.
There's Sia and 5 Seconds of Summer but that's sort of it, nobody from Australia really has success in America, and to have a song go so well on radio, you start to have success and you think, 'Oh God, I don't want to lose that!'
I was writing songs in my room for like six year, not showing anyone.
I wasn't the kind of guy who was like 'here's my demo,' or 'listen to my demo.' I just never thought it was that good.
