HAZZE MAGAZINE | VOL. 20 "Epiphany of Onism"

My new favorite songs would be “Shadow of Mine” and “Devil Doesn’t Bargain”. You use a lot of metaphors when you’re storytelling. Was this a technique you practiced over the years of writing or does it come naturally?

A: Some of it comes naturally and some of it needs practice. I try to find parallels between things that don't necessarily appear related at first glance. Then, I use that in my songwriting as a tool to get my point across. I think that makes my songwriting unique.

The month of May is "Asian/Pacific American Heritage" month. Going back to when you recorded “Let Me Down Slowly” & “Water Fountain” in Mandarin, what inspired you to learn Chinese? What aspects of the Asian culture do you admire?

A: Growing up, I'd been indirectly inspired by like Asian culture in a lot of different ways. My dad is a medical doctor, but he also practices integrative medicine, which is like some medicine from the East, like acupuncture and stuff. My first exposure to East Asian culture was doing a Chinese form of karate. Some of that influenced me to learn the language. A lot of the things that we learn in karate were written out in Chinese characters and maybe that inspired me. Ultimately, I think the West has in large part discounted and ignored the East, and I think that's a shame because there's a lot to be learned from some of the longest-lasting cultures in history.

This was your first time at Coachella. What was the experience like being a part of this massive festival? For you, what is your opinion and experience of the Coachella crowd vs. your tour audience?

A: Everyone talks about it, and I've been hearing about it since I was a little kid. The fact that I got to participate in it was pretty cool. At the end of the day, it was awesome! It was the biggest stage I've ever performed on physically. So, I learned a lot from that. As much as the audience was watching the stage...the audience was crazy. I was watching the audience. People wore crazy things and they really went all out for the festival. It was very fun for me. I felt like I was also a spectator, even though I was performing.

For my music, the people who are going to come and see my set are normally people who have heard my music before and people who are going to know the words...like you're not going to just show up to my set. It felt like the people who are at our set were there intentionally and weren't just there peripherally. They were really engaged. At least from my own personal experience, I can say that we had a great audience.

I can see how there can definitely be people who come to festivals who want to go and check out stuff that they're not familiar with. Maybe that sometimes leads to having an audience that's maybe less enthusiastic than a headline show, but I didn't really notice too much of a difference. I guess the difference between that and a headline show would be the time. We played at 4:00 PM. It was really hot out, and it was also outside. Shows on tour are inside. So, sometimes it feels louder because the sound is inside. But, I had a good experience at Coachella. I felt like the crowd that was there was really invested in it.