Desert Island Top 5 albums (i.e. you can only have 5 albums to listen to and yes, there is a cd player and unlimited batteries on the island).

• Okkervil River – Black Sheep Boy
• Say Anything – …Is a Real Boy
• Mount Eerie – Lost Wisdom
• Placebo – Without You I’m Nothing
• Brian Wilson – Smile

Your biggest musical inspirations (or things that inspire your writing).

I am always inspired by everything.  60's music is a big one that always gets me writing.  You just hear these amazing harmonies and all of these simple little production techniques on these incredible songs that are so basic and simple and you just stop and kind of say 'oh yeah, writing songs is fun and easy' and it always just inspires me to try different things.

For the With You EP in particular, I was inspired by a few things. Me and my friend were debating a lyric in the Care Bears theme song one night, so I YouTube'd the video and from there we just started watching all of these super lame and catchy Care Bear's kids songs..and one song in particular titled "I Care for You" (YouTube it!) from Care Bears was the main inspiration for the song "With You"..I actually copied the cheesy drum beat.  The tempo of my song was originally as slow as the Care Bears one, but I sped it up because it sounded super boring.  And usually a song will take me a while to write and record but this song was done in two days from when I heard the Care Bears song.

A Casio SA-65 was inspiration for "With You Pt. II"..I got the keyboard off some lady on Craigslist for $25 and I have this rough track on my iPhone Voice Memo's of me figuring out the song with the clarinet sound, its amazing and terrible.

What do you play and record with?

Acoustic guitar – a shitty Epiphone that’s needed new strings for two years. Everytime I play live I’m ridiculed by the sound guy who tells me either I need a new DI or a new guitar. Actually, you know what?! It’s not a shitty Epiphone! Fuck those sound guys! Other instruments: an ESP LTD Electric guitar going through a Frontman 25R, Kala Ukulele, ‘Angel’ Glockenspiel, Hohner Harmonicas, M-Audio ProKeys88 for Midi & Piano fluff, Casio SK-11, Casio SA-65, Concertmate 970 All of which goes through my AKG Perception 420 mic and into my M-Audio ProFire 610! 

What are your favourite books / movies.

• The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera
• Lolita – Vladamir Nabokov
• A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
• The Call of the Wild – Jack Long
• The Dark Tower Series – Stephen King

Name one song you wish you had written instead of whoever actually wrote it. 

5 artists / albums that you think more people should know about.

Pick any five on Hi-Five! I’ve spent hours listening to wonderful artists on this site while I should have been paying attention in class. Which is the better education?

You can only have one thing for the rest of your life, which do you chose: cigarettes, coffee, wine, beer or ketchup?

I pour ketchup on my cigarettes, mix in a blender with coffee and wine, season with a touch of beer; serve at room temperature. Seriously though, a life without Merlot? I’d rather smoke myself to death.