Photo credit: Patrick Fraser
Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
My tour vehicle is primarily a Greyhound bus and my number of miles on it is north of 150,000 miles. The repairs that have been made take multiple forms – on the vehicle itself, I’ve had breakdowns on the sides of the road outside of Winslow, Arizona and numerous other places. Now in terms of the figurative vehicle that exists for all Greyhound riders there are other kinds of repairs going on all the time atop the wheels as they travel the vast distances in America talking to the strangers beside them.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
When you travel by Greyhound there are really three food groups: sugar, salt, and caffeine. So you really just have to choose which one you want to lead with. Generally, it’s two of the three. Sometimes all because there are pre-dawn meal breaks at Jack in the Box not known for its farm-to-table healthy fare.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
I’d say 24. I use John Pearse mediums and they give them to me at cost.
Where do you rehearse?
My rehearsal space when I’m in LA is a small barnish converted garage. I would also say that some of the places that I perform also feel like an ongoing rehearsal of sorts but that’s sort of semantics because of course all performances are rehearsals for others.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
Well, it was a co-write in mid-elementary school with my older sister and it was sort of a changeable lyric based on what was around the singer at the time, but all rooted in the very well-wise and poetic common thread that things are interesting. So it could be, “Shoes are interesting. Trees are interesting. Carpet carpets are interesting. Everything is interesting.” And then the chorus, “Interesting. Yeah, yeah.” And then you would just do a whole other verse around other everyday items that are interesting. You can see why it didn’t quite take off.
Describe your first gig.
My first gig was playing the student union in college, mostly classic rock.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
My last proper, full-time gig was as a foreign correspondent based out of London, covering such places as Iran, Rwanda and Bosnia. And then your natural next step in a career: singer-songwriter. As I transitioned to music, I somehow tried to utilize my background to do PR for something I couldn’t care less about, which was the automotive dealer market and another client that catered to people seeking spas and salt scrubs. Sort of the unGreyhound.
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
I would say that in terms of my music-related income that it’s really only now on the upswing and once we complete the 12 theme parks each rooted in a song of mine, then things might really take off. Until then, as a wise young songwriter once said, the idea itself is “interesting.”
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
I would say that the one thing I wish I knew when I started was that any day playing music professionally is a day not not playing music professionally no matter where you are in your progress.