Tell us a bit about your new songs.
One of my new songs is inspired by the work of Gandhi. Gandhi was the guy who said, 'be the change you want to see in the world.' I've read his autobiography and there is a really cool story in it. An Indian woman came to Gandhi with her son and said, 'he won't listen to me-I keep telling him sugar is bad. Can you tell him?' And Gandhi said, 'come back tomorrow.' So the woman and her son went back the next day and Gandhi said to the boy, 'sugar is bad for you'. The woman asked why Gandhi couldn't have told them that in the first place to which Gandhi replied, 'because I had to stop eating sugar myself first.'
Gandhi made sure he was the change he wanted to see in the world.
Do you agree that when it comes to creating change sometimes you just have to throw yourself in, because if you do hesitate nothing will happen?
Yeah i get that. The funny thing is that even when you aren't doing anything that is some form of an action as well; passive action. The minute you're born you have to do something in life. Even if you choose not to take part and sit and close yourself off to the world around you that is still some form of action.
So it is great that you are trying to do something right now because I think we all hear that voice inside but we don't all have the courage to listen...and it doesn't have to be a big thing, you don't have to be president to invoke change. You can change the world in small ways.
Do you see music as an avenue to create social awareness?
Definitely. I am saying that based only on my own experiences but music changed my life, my views. Bob Marly, Bob Dylan. What they were singing about changed what I was thinking about. And it just goes straight in. You can listen to a politician speak for hours and you might not feel it here (points to heart) but then you can hear one song and it just resonates with you so much and changes who you are and the way you see the world. I guess you know that the only way to change things is to change people's minds and hearts.
Who inspires you?
I mainly like this one thing the Buddha said which was 'participate in the sorrows of life joyfully.' Be happy even when you go through crap, enjoy it as part of life. That sentence keeps me in perspective.
Did everything fall into place with your music career or did you plan your success?
It's a bit of both-I don't know if this happens to you but when I look back at my life everything seems like it fell into this perfect piece of a puzzle, like it was all made to happen and even my biggest mistakes were perfect.
If you see mistakes, success and failure in the same light then you are really embracing life. It is a part of life to fail miserably sometimes. I still make mistakes everyday, and I try to avoid them but you just have to be easy with yourself and say, if I fall it's OK, I will pick myself up and start again. On the other hand when success comes don't say, I made it!
Everything changes all the time so you can't hold onto your success or your failure. That's the good news about failure-if you fall into a big hole of depression the good news is its probably going to change. Yet if you win the lottery the bad news is it's probably going to change. You never know how things are going to work.
A 10, 000 mile journey starts with one little step.
When you look back at all you've done what is your greatest achievment?
I try not to hold onto experiences because if they are good or bad I kind of see them in the same light; that they are now past. I guess I am just proud everyday that I tasted what it was like to follow your bliss. To do the thing you love. And I am really grateful that I did it, that I took that step.
The hardest part about that is often you can't take anyone else's advice because it is your path, your way. So just trusting yourself can be an achievement in that sense.
In your opinion does there ever come a time where you have to stop giving of yourself?
Good question! You can define yourself as anything and say, 'I am this and I can only give this much' but then you are limiting yourself and your potential. If you can say 'I am the universe' than you have endless powers and endless possibilites for giving. There shouldn't be a lot of effort in giving, because if there is too much effort than you're giving from the wrong place and are going to feel drained.
So you have to know for yourself where you are taking it from and that is a totally personal journey. For me, if I give from ego I feel drained. If I say, 'yeah I'm great because I'm giving' than that is eventually a source that will run dry. However if I am giving simply because I can it actually charges me up. Each of you will have your own source to tap into.
