St. Lucia in South Africa is this exotic place where you might go on vacation, and it evokes this nostalgic, hazy vibe.
It's easy when you're working together to let work things overtake your life, when all you're talking about is work, and you never leave that space.
I really believe in albums, even though some people believe the year of the album has passed. I love singular pop songs or tracks, but what really affects me most deeply is if there's an hour of music or 45 minutes of music that flows really well and tells a story.
I was really into Radiohead and Live.
The album that really got me interested in how to create weird sounds, and pretty much changed my life, was 'OK Computer.' Funnily enough, my parents bought it for me because it was recommended to them, and the first 2 times I heard it, I absolutely hated it.
With Prince especially... he was a really great songwriter and keyboardist and singer and was so good at so many different things, you couldn't pin him down. That really inspires me.
The reason I decided to become a solo artist in the first place was because I always felt that the results that I got from working as a team where everyone had equal say... ended up with compromised, watered-down results.
I think there's no way of avoiding the South African or African influence from coming into my music, just because I spent 19 years of my life there. Being a kid, my early musical experiences were there.
I try to not be self-conscious in my writing process. I think it's important to just be in your subconscious mind - at least when you're starting an idea.
When I was a kid, pre-1994 was still apartheid, so we didn't get a lot the subversive music from the States or from the U.K. A lot of the music we would get was the poppiest pop music, so I've never really had a bad association it.
I went through all these different phases. But it always felt like I was impersonating something, so I went back to some of the music I grew up with, like music from South Africa and the '80s stuff. I stopped suppressing it, and I stopped trying to be cool.
We have such an energetic live show. We have so much fun onstage. We swap instruments. We might possibly be the sweatiest band in the business.
We've always enjoyed touring, which is fortunate because we're always on the road. The most difficult part is that time passes by so quickly. It's hard to pay attention to your normal life because shows are all-encompassing.
My favorite pieces that I've written, either for St. Lucia or for myself, have always had a transporting quality to them, where they take you out of the moment and somewhere positive that feels nostalgic and happy but sad at the same time.