I was playing hip-hop when everybody else was playing the giant rave music.
I was big into hip-hop as a kid, and when I was eighteen, I got into dance and rave music, which was popular in Ireland at the time.
I'm really, really into the rave scene and just kind of how people come together and how it's just music and just love.
I went to a music academy in Los Angeles, and some friends started playing me Ravel and Prokofiev, who I liked, but what really blew me away was 'The Rite of Spring.' That's what made me get interested in classical music for real and want to study it.
Grime, in particular, is not really about pirate radio and local raves on top of pubs anymore. There are things I miss about those times but as an up-and-coming MC, back then, I would have loved to have had SoundCloud and YouTube and all these platforms to promote my music.
I grew up listening to a lot of Ray Charles and '60s rock, thanks to my father, and then my brothers got me in to KISS and whatnot, so I guess that's where I got my first taste for music.
My dad has always been a big Ray Charles fan, and I've grown up listening to all kinds of music.
My music is about where I am at the time. In 'Raymond vs. Raymond,' I was going through a lot of things, and it came out in my music. My marriage fell apart, and I was suddenly a single father.
Our music has always been instant reactive and I guess taking our time to absorb things and say what you really want to say could be much more offensive than anything we've ever done.
Music comes to me more readily than words.
When you are a real artist who is serious about your craft, you love good music. Period.
I don't think a lot of people know what a real artist I am. I don't think they know I write my own music.
As soon as I got into music, I tried to be a working, real artist who gets paid for what he does, who doesn't have a day job.
This band is a real collaboration, and I'm greatful to anybody who can appreciate our music. It doesn't have to be a certain kind of fan or person or anything. I think there's a little bit of something for everybody on this record.
I think that's what makes my music different from other artists in my lane is that I write every word that's on my album, and every word comes from a real experience or a real feeling that I've either experienced or felt. And I'm very particular about that, and I take a lot of pride in it, so you know if I say something on a song, I mean it.
I just am really bad at making new friends - especially in the music industry, because they're not really real friends; they're just music industry friends.
There's a place for all types of country music as long as there is honesty and realness and a real human experience for the fans.
I have a real issue with radio these days. I just am not into the current music.
I feel like in my music I can be a rebel. I can say things I wouldn't say in real life.
I just have this real love and connection with what I'm doing when I play music.
