I think I have always made really beat-driven pop-rock records.
I love Bruce Springsteen's writing, but I grew up on '90s hip hop, like Tribe Called Quest.
I'm really influenced by '90s hip hop. A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul were my heroes growing up.
When I started forming my own taste, there was a period in high school when I listened to only rap and hip-hop, like A Tribe Called Quest.
Songs like 'Learn To Love Again' and 'Rochester' and some of the more gut-wrenching ones deal with the pain of the younger times of your life... trying to make sense of some the stuff we probably all went through.
More than any other instrument, the relationship between an acoustic guitar and a microphone is super-important. The kind of mics that you use and your placement of the mics to the guitar can radically alter your sound.