Photo credit Danny Clinch
Tell us about your tour vehicle.
The band and crew travels in a 15 passenger van, but I drive myself separately in a little Hyundai. It’s kind of a crazy way to do it, but it’s what I’m used to.
I’ve driven about 80,000 miles in the last 3 years. I’m on the phone all freakin day and the time actually just flies by. I stop and go for jogs in weird random places.
It’s a crazy lifestyle.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
I’m allergic to everything — one of the least rock n roll things about me. I’m always buying groceries and filling my car with too much stuff and making weird meals in parking lots.
What's it like touring with a piano?
We carry a 400 pound piano everywhere. It’s always an adventure. Once we had to charter a boat just to get the piano off of an island at 2am.
It gets fork-lifted several stories at festival stages. It’s wild.
Where do you rehearse?
We practice in a barn in New Jersey. The barn is 200 years old and we built a secret rehearsal space on the second floor.
We can play as loud as we want, whenever we want. There are horses, goats, chickens, etc around.
Sometimes we find weird old objects around. Recently we found an antique machete hidden in the wall.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
My first song with words was called “Lover, Discover Me”
I was 10 years old. A very passionate little dude.
Describe your first gig.
My first band was called the Gherkins.
In high school I was pretty shy, but when I went onstage I ran around and took my shirt off
Everyone in school was like “where did that guy come from?”
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
I’ve done so so many jobs. Teacher, secretary, piano-player in a ballet studio, gay bars, Italian restaurants, vintage clothes, piano tuning..
And if this Low Cut Connie thing doesn’t work out, who knows what weird gig I’ll be doing.
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’ve only been full-time music now for 10 years exactly.
It hasn’t gone up dramatically, but I’ve gotten smarter about the business and how to navigate it.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
I was so obsessed with art, as I still am. But it took me too long to learn the business side. I should have learned the industry earlier than I did.