1. Tell us about your craziest touring experience.

Joe: So we were at Lollapalooza last week at the side of the stage waiting to go on. It’s 3pm and our set is at 4.30. Then the sky starts going dark, and they announce on the pa system that they are evacuating the entire festival site coz of a crazy a$$ storm that was heading to Chicago! So we left our equipment under a tarpaulin side stage and had to leave through the main exits along with 100,000 other people flooding into the streets of Chicago. It was like Lollageddon!

We found our way into The Hilton hotel lobby, where we managed to comandeer a grand piano and perform a four song set to the festival goers that were sheltering in the hotel!

2. What type of college class would you’d most want to take and why?

Jonny: Ornithology because we all like birds.

3. What city in America is the most fun to visit and why?

Jonny: Any city with a college, as they seem to have loads of people there that want to party with us!

4. What’s some of the best advice you were ever given?

Joe: To perform music wherever and whenever you have the chance. We take every opportunity given to us to play, as this is what we enjoy doing the most in life. And life is all about enjoyment.

5. What’s in heavy rotation in your MP3/CD player right now?

Jonny: Bee Gees greatest hits. We recently recorded a track with the producer George Drakoulias (Black crowes, Jay Hawks) and he was playing loads of Bee Gees in the studio to get us in the mood for recording! He’s a crazy guy but a true genius!

6. The last good book you read or TV show you’re addicted to.

Rob: Big Bang Theory – watched every series about 5 times in the bus. We’re on a ten week tour of the states at the moment so there is plenty of driving time. Yesterday we did 16 hours from Minneapolis to boulder Colorado! So anything funny to pass the time!

7. What’s the first concert you ever saw – how was it?

Dave H: Eric Clapton with Joe Cocker and ZZ Top – was an amazing induction into music as all those guys were such talented musicians and it really inspired me to play!

8. What are three items you can’t live without on tour?

Joe: Guitars – for obvious reasons! Headphones – as everyone has different tastes in music so we’d be invading each others personal space if not! Skype – to keep in touch with our families back home in the UK!

9. Who are your major musical influences?

Dave H: We all have diffent influences which we bring to the table. I like blues and classic rock like Led Zeppelin and The Who, Joe and Dave like singer song writers like Counting Crows, Damien Rice and Jonny and Rob like alternative rock like Incubus and Biffy Clyro.

10. Any random messages or tips you’d like to give to mtvU watchers?

Jonny: Who would you rather fight – 50 duck sized horses or 1 horse sized duck?

1. Tell us about your craziest touring experience?

Learning to surf with TV On The Radio in Australia last year when I was on tour with Bright Eyes was pretty incredible. But I’ve gotta say the one moment that was truly the craziest happened on our most recent tour. We were in Chicago and had just finished up our show at Schuba’s. I was hanging out around the merch booth saying hello to folks and all at once I heard someone yell from across the room, “He’s got your fox!” I bolted towards the door. You see, on stage I wear this fox headdress that was custom made for me by an artist named Erin Shaw. It’s made of felt and silk thread and glass eyes (no actual fox was harmed in the making); she spent weeks making it by hand and it wasn’t cheap. And some jerk stole it! Right off the stage!! Our guitarist and his friend chased the culprit through dark alleys, dove after him til he gave up the fox, and eventually the Chicago police got involved. They had the guy cuffed in the back of a cruiser by the time I got to him. I told him I didn’t want to press charges — just wanted my fox back. So the fox was found and order was restored. But the lesson? Don’t f*#% with the fox.
 

2. What type of college class would you’d most want to take and why?

I took this amazing class in college called “On the Road: Southern Literature and Rock.” Thirteen of us piled in a van with our two professors and drove around the South, reading Faulkner and Dickey and blasting all kinds of rock n roll. We listened to Big Bill Morganfield (Muddy Waters’ son) play the blues (I drank too much, wrote bad poetry on a napkin, and told Big Bill he gave kids something better than God — the Blues), and visited the Allman Brothers’ Big House in Macon, Georgia. It was the class that made me change my major from music (piano performance/composition) to literature. I think it’s the class that prepared me for tour life. So if I were taking another class, I’d want to do something like that again. But then again, maybe that’s what I AM doing for real life. So maybe a physics class — something on String Theory. Or a class on conflict resolution.
 

3. What city in America is the most fun to visit and why?

There are so many cities that are fun to visit, all for different reasons. It’s like having great friends all over the country and not being able to choose your favorite because you like different things about each of them. New York, Portland, Austin are some obvious choices. But I like some of the smaller, less-expected cities, too. Places like Salt Lake City, UT, Asheville, NC, Shepherdstown, WV. I like the weirder, quirkier towns that surprise you with their charm. That’s probably why I like living in Omaha so much. It’s not obvious. And there really is tons of charm here.
 

4. What’s some of the best advice you were ever given?

I’m lucky to have a really great mom who has given me unwavering support over the years. She helped me start my own record label just out of high school and supported me I as self-released my first solo record. She’s always taught me never to give up; learn from your mistakes; keep moving. But recently she said something that really stuck. She said to me, “Lift your voice and you will lift the world.” And to me that was really important to hear. If we’re in a position where we can do good for others, we must. We must use our gifts for good, whether we think we’re capable or not. So even though I was nervous about getting political and personal on this new album, I knew I had a responsibility to do it. Sometimes you have to be the person you want to be (rather than the person you are) in order to become it.
 

5. What’s in heavy rotation in your MP3/CD player right now?

I’ve been really into my classical vinyl collection (Ravel, Debussy, Rachmaninoff) and 90s R&B recently. My tastes are all over the place. But I’ve also been enjoying the hell out of the latest Damien Jurado, Shabazz Palaces, and Polica, too.
 

6. The last good book you read or TV show you’re addicted to?

I just finished Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Marriage Plot and wasn’t as into it as Middlesex — I absolutely adored that book. But somehow The Marriage Plot keeps haunting me — I want to go back and re-read it; so maybe I liked it more than I thought I did. I’m currently in the middle of The God of Small Things, which I’m enjoying quite a lot. And another one of my favorites that I read a little while back was Days Between Stations — a truly magical book. I also read both Naomi Wolf’s Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries and Gloria Steinem’s Revolution from Within while I was writing “GENERALS.” I highly recommend both. As far as TV goes, I don’t have cable (because I’d be hopelessly addicted and never get anything done if I DID have it). So I tend to get addicted to TV series long after they’ve run. I’ve been really into Carl Sagan’s The Cosmos and have special spots in my heart for 30 Rock, Downton Abbey (I really wanted NOT to like that show), and of course Mad Men.
 

7. What’s the first concert you ever saw – how was it?

When I was eight, my parents took me to see The Temptations. It was incredible. When they sang “My Girl” they asked if anyone in the audience wanted to come to the stage to sing with them. To this day I regret not running up there — my parents were urging me to go, but I was too shy. After that, the next big thing I went to was Lollapalooza ’94. L7, Beastie Boys… I think those two concert experiences pretty much sum up my musical loves: classic R&B and indie rock.
 

8. What are three items you can’t live without on tour?

A bathing suit — you never know when you’re gonna find a swimming hole or a hot tub; boots — for trudging through wherever the road takes you; and a good book — for whenever you find yourself in an auto repair waiting room while the van’s on the mend.
 

9. Who are your major musical influences?

My influences have just as much to do with admiring their fiery personalities as it does with admiring their approach to music. I’m forever indebted to Nina Simone, PJ Harvey, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Neil Young, Portishead, Patti Smith, David Byrne, Tori Amos, Bjork, Ani Difranco, Yoko Ono, Buffy Sainte-Marie, the Beastie Boys. (Naming folks like the Beatles, the Stones, Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, and Brian Wilson seems like an obvious given.) I’ve always admired people who have a strong voice — and who approach their music like art (rather than just writing pop songs for the radio) and use it to try and put a little good back into the world.
 

Any random messages or tips you’d like to give to mtvU watchers?

Take time to enjoy. Have hope. Work hard. And above all, be kind.

1. Tell us about your craziest touring experience?

We did a show with Company of Thieves in Albany last year and my keyboard stand broke in half right as were were getting on stage. It was a completely packed show and one of the few times I can remember panicking at a gig. I ran around frantically looking for a keyboard stand backstage but no luck. Eventually Chris from CoT set up his drum kit road cases as a makeshift keyboard stand and we just laid the keyboard on top of it. It looked completely ridiculous but it got the job done. 
 

2. What type of college class would you’d most want to take and why?

I would love to take a course on the environment and sustainability. My friend Andy (from OK Go) and I recently launched an iPhone app called inBloom to help you find nearby sustainable businesses and I wish I had some formal education to back up my activism. I’ve considered going back to grad school for a Masters in sustainability.
 

3. What city in America is the most fun to visit and why?

I’ve always been a big fan of Boston. The people are notably friendly at gigs and because there are so many universities there’s a lot of energy to the city. I’m also an American history buff and there are great historic spots to visit there. The one thing I haven’t done there which I’m dying to do is catch a baseball game at Fenway.
 

4. What’s some of the best advice you were ever given?

When I was a kid I went to a Matthew Sweet concert at Jones Beach and he was signing autographs at a booth after the set. I said something incredibly dorky like “Do you have any advice for an aspiring singer/songwriter?” and he  said “Yeah… quit.” He was half-kidding but I wasn’t sure how to respond so I nodded and walked away and he must have thought he hurt my feelings because when I was 50 feet away I heard him screaming “Just be yourself man!! Just be yourself!!” I don’t know that it’s the best advice I’ve been given but it was certainly the most memorably delivered advice from someone I admire. 
 

5. What’s in heavy rotation in your MP3/CD player right now?

I’ve been on a huge Shins kick lately– both the new record Port of Morrow but also the back catalog. Other artists I’ve been listening to– The Walkmen, The National, Sarah Jaffe, Band of Skulls, Sleeper Agent, and The Vaccines. I’ve also had Bob Dylan’s Desire album on regularly in the last month.
 

6. The last good book you read or TV show you’re addicted to?

I’ve been reading all of Jonah Lehrer’s books and I highly recommend How We Decide and Imagine: How Creativity Works — they’re fascinating books that reveal some of the mysteries of how the human mind works. He’s similar to Malcolm Gladwell but with a background in neuroscience. The last TV show I got completely sucked into was Breaking Bad — I watched all four seasons in a week and a half and went through some serious withdrawal when I got to the final episode. Thankfully we were only a couple of weeks away from the new season.
 

7. What’s the first concert you ever saw – how was it?

Bruce Springsteen at Nassau Coliseum — it was incredible. Bruce gives 110% all the time and he plays for three and a half hours. As a fan you can’t ask for anything more than that.
 

8. What are three items you can’t live without on tour?

My copy of Weezer’s Blue Album (essential road trip listening!), a GPS, and Snickers ice cream bars.
 

9. Who are your major musical influences?

The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Radiohead and the Motown catalog.
 

Any random messages or tips you’d like to give to mtvU watchers?

Don’t sign up for 9am classes if you can’t actually get out of bed that early. I can tell you first hand that it will mess up your GPA.

1. Tell us about your craziest touring experience?

Where do you want to start? Some of the things we do are so damn irresponsible we try not to glamourise them. Perhaps when a venue in New York State caught fire during soundcheck (not our fault) and we had to leave all our gear save what we could carry to the fire hoses…
 

2. What type of college class would you’d most want to take and why?

Architecture or engineering, I always wanted to build things that actually work. It annoys me that music is so subjective, the same song can be loved and loathed by so many. Sometimes I wish I could just build a staircase that doesn’t fall down if you get what I mean.
 

3. What city in America is the most fun to visit and why?

For me it’s got to be New York City, in the words of Woody Allen “it really is a knock out”.
 

4. What’s some of the best advice you were ever given?

Someone once told me everyone writes better songs the day they realise they aren’t Radiohead. It certainly helped me crawl out from under the shadow of one of our favourite bands to find our own voice.
 

5. What’s in heavy rotation in your MP3/CD player right now?

Joni Mitchell’s ‘Travelogue’.
 

6. The last good book you read or TV show you’re addicted to?

Woody Gutherie’s Road to Glory & I just got into VEEP, it’s only one season in but it’s had me hooked this year.
 

7. What’s the first concert you ever saw – how was it?

A band from Oxford called Dustball, they were our local heros, the show was in the Oxford Zodiac, a venue we went on to play many times.
 

8. What are three items you can’t live without on tour?

iPhone charger, headphones & clean socks.
 

9. Who are your major musical influences?

Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bjork & Scott Walker
 

Any random messages or tips you’d like to give to mtvU watchers?

We’re on a seemingly unending tour of the United States right now, look us up and come see us soon.

1. Tell us about your craziest touring experience?

There’s been tons of crazy party memories, but none stand out like touring w/ Lady Gaga for a month in 2009. There was one night while hanging in Gaga’s hotel room after a show in Vancouver. There were about 5 of us hangin out drinking whiskey while Gaga showed us new demos on her computer asking us what we thought of them. Several of the demos were of songs that ended up on Fame Monster. Even if it was just to be a peer and listen/give my opinion of the songs, it was really cool being involved on any level in a part of something that great.
 

2. What type of college class would you’d most want to take and why?

I attended a few years of college before I got my first record deal. I was going for my BS in Marketing at Purdue University… I took mostly pre recs and some major courses, but the school offered a glass blowing class. I always wanted to take that haha. Maybe one day…
 

3. What city in America is the most fun to visit and why?

Wow… So many amazing cities in the us, but if I had to choose one it’d have to be Nashville. There is just so much live music going on at all times. I’ve never gotten to spend more than a day there. I need to change that soon!
 

4. What’s some of the best advice you were ever given?

The best career advice I was ever given came from Lady Gaga. She told me, ‘as an artist, you have to be bigger than your songs’…. She also talked to me about how important it is to have a clear vision of who you are, and what you can offer the world from the very start of your career. Words I still live by.
 

5. What’s in heavy rotation in your MP3/CD player right now?

I’m a huge fan of shuffle on my iPhone, so nothing specific. I have everything from current pop to 80′s hair metal to country. But if I’m not shuffling… I always find myself listening to Purple Rain by Prince. It just will never get old to me.
 

6. The last good book you read or TV show you’re addicted to?

Last good book I read was Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, which was amazing! My favorite tv show is Breaking Bad. I’m completely addicted and can barely wait for the next season to start!
 

7. What’s the first concert you ever saw – how was it?

The first concert I ever went to was Boys 2 Men. Brandy was the opening act. I was pretty young but I remember sitting in a giant arena in Chicago captivated at how different the live show was than the recording. I how they really brought the songs to life. During the show, I kept telling my parents ‘I wanna go on the stage.’ Of course, they told me I couldn’t. Its kinda weird to say, but I’m pretty sure that concert may have been the spark that started it all for me.
 

8. What are three items you can’t live without on tour?

My must haves are my laptop, midi keyboard, and a studio microphone. I always keep a portable studio setup w/me wherever I go. I’ve even written songs on planes. While on tour I’m usually so inspired by the energy the crowd gives me, I just have to be set up to write as much as possible.
 

9. Who are your major musical influences?

The first CD my parents ever gave me was Queen’s ‘A Night At The Opera.’ I’m pretty sure that was, and still is, my biggest influence. When I write music, it weights so heavily on having a strong melody. Growing up I really liked bands like The Killers, Matchbox 20, Third Eye Blind, Jimmy Eat World, as well as most pop music that was on the radio.
 

Any random messages or tips you’d like to give to mtvU watchers?

Never stop taking chances and dream huge!! I seriously first got noticed by the music industry by writing and producing one catchy song and putting it on MySpace. Since then I haven’t stopped taking risks every day.
 

1. Tell us about your craziest touring experience?

When I was younger, I broke my leg jumping up on to a loading dock before a show. I’ve never had any health insurance, and the band I was in at the time didn’t have any money for hospital bills, so I actually wasn’t sure at first if I had a break… but by the time the elevator made it up to the show floor, a fairly large bump had formed on my leg and I couldn’t put any weight on it. The best I could do was call my brother, who was an EMT at the time, and ask for his opinion. I told him the bottom of my foot was black and blue, and he told me it was most likely a break of some nature.

So I put an ace bandage on it and finished the tour, and now I have a little ridge in the bones of my left shin.
 

2. What type of college class would you’d most want to take and why?

I would take course in arrangement or orchestration most likely- to better understand that level of musicality.
 

3. What city in America is the most fun to visit and why?

Recently I had the most fun in Milwaukee. Aside from having great friends there, it is also a spot that I had never really explored, and spending a couple days there exposed me to a lot of really wonderful things. That being said, if you search hard enough, every city has something wonderful to offer.
 

4. What’s some of the best advice you were ever given?

Never cross the streams.
 

5. What’s in heavy rotation in your MP3/CD player right now?

Rufus Wainwrights “Out of the Game”
 

6. The last good book you read or TV show you’re addicted to?

The last good book I read was ‘Ishmael’ by Daniel Quinn
 

7. What’s the first concert you ever saw – how was it?

The first concert I saw was Joe Satriani when I was 11 or 12 with my father. His guitar was a mirror.
 

8. What are three items you can’t live without on tour?

Water, Air, Food.
 

9. Who are your major musical influences?

Jimi Hendrix, Beatles, Beach Boys, Bjork, Mr Bungle, Mondo Cane, Weather Report, Return to Forever, Pedro the Lion, Elbow, Rufus Wainwright.
 

Any random messages or tips you’d like to give to mtvU watchers?

Here is a great tip for cleaning any pan. When you let pans sit for a while, the food that was cooked in the pan can become really hard to clean off- almost impossible. The easiest way to clean the pan is put about an inch of water in it, place it back on the stove, and let the water boil for about 2 minutes… then you should be able to wipe out the insides fairly easy.

Don’t do this with a seasoned pan.
 

1. Tell us about your craziest touring experience?

We did a college show in Monterey, CA and had a huge after party at the hotel. The hotel was hosting a west coast teacher’s conference. Long story short, the hotel wasn’t feeling the party, the cops came and Nic and Fess got arrested.
 

2. What type of college class would you’d most want to take and why?

We all went to different colleges in CA: Bread-UC Riverside, Goose-UC Davis, Fess-San Diego State, Big Steve-CSU Northridge, Riggz-UCLA & USC Law School and Nic went to Santa Monica CC for a semester then went back to making beats. So one class we all thought would be dope would be Adult Sex Ed, but you’d have to have a bad one as the teacher.
 

3. What city in America is the most fun to visit and why?

We do a lot of shows along the West Coast but Austin TX for SXSW was super dope when we were out there this year.
 

4. What’s some of the best advice you were ever given?

Wrap it up!
 

5. What’s in heavy rotation in your MP3/CD player right now?

Our own music, we have a lot of tuckie tracks that will never be released but we love em so we slap our own music a lot.
 

6. The last good book you read or TV show you’re addicted to?

Walking Dead! We’re all hooked on it! Watch out for those bath salts y’all.
 

7. What’s the first concert you ever saw – how was it?

We’ve all been to a lot of different concerts but we all went and saw Weezy (Lil Wayne) this year together and it was dope to finally catch one as a squad.
 

8. What are three items you can’t live without on tour?

Trees, Sunflower Seeds & Jack Daniels are all a must on tour. Oh and condoms! Four things we can’t live without.
 

9. Who are your major musical influences?

Ying Yang Twins & Beastie Boys.
 

Any random messages or tips you’d like to give to mtvU watchers?

“Don’t ask for permission, ask for forgiveness”

After four years in absentia the original 4 members of LA band Shiny Toy Guns are back in action with their new album III and we got to ask synth man Jeremy Dawson a few questions…

1. Tell us about your craziest touring experience?

Well, one time we got the bright idea to wear “depends” undergarments when we were touring back in the van’n'trailer days. This enabled us to drive incredible distances without having to stop to pee or poo.
However, it didn’t really work out as planned…
 

2. What type of college class would you’d most want to take and why?

Meteorology. Because the atmosphere is not controllable and we want to figure out how to harness the power of THE NOTHING. Run Atreyu! Hurry!!!
 

3. What city in America is the most fun to visit and why?

New York City. Because its real shit. Its depth, its metal, its power. The class and global fashion that runs beneath its streets and across its cloud splitting skyline gives every reason to be inspired.
 

4. What’s some of the best advice you were ever given?

From The National. They said, “Don’t leave yourself alone for too many days, sooner than you know, you’re gonna start slipping..”
 

5. What’s in heavy rotation in your MP3/CD player right now?

The new Beach House. Knife Party. Grimes. Remember Vast? Having a large Vast flashback moment and Other Lives.
 

6. The last good book you read or TV show you’re addicted to?

I think we all really love Storage Wars. And reading wise usually we just read funny twitter feeds and listen to waaaay too much music all day. Recently finished our album so we are in the wind-down stages from spending 3 years in a recording studio.
 

7. What’s the first concert you ever saw – how was it?

Ahhh …. don’t hate … it was Milli Vanilli and Young MC. May or may not have done the running man as a very young child. In my seat. I believed it. The vocals were real, I was there…
 

8. What are three items you can’t live without on tour?

The S735I logitech iphone dock sound system. Literally tears if its forgotten. Hummus. CHEEZITS. No cheezits, no show.
 

9. Who are your major musical influences?

All the melody junkies in the world. And those who write really incredible songs of all types and genres.
 

Any random messages or tips you’d like to give to mtvU watchers?

Stay away from bath salts! And love people. You aren’t here on earth to be an a$$hole, spend today making someone laugh out loud.
 
For your listening pleasure it’s “Waiting Alone”:

1. Tell us about your craziest touring experience?

The first time I played SXSW, I was playing at the same time as Ghostface Killah. I had a photo shoot earlier that day and I mentioned to the photographer how disappointed I was that I would be missing his set. This same photographer came to my venue at the end of my show with an autographed copy of the Fader with Ghostface on the cover and my name on it! Then he was like, “you wanna come to dinner with him?”

And so that’s what we did. We went to a Chinese restaurant and I sat right next to Ghostface and about 15 people from Def Jam and a couple other journalists. I asked him about Dilla and some other nerdy stuff and I got a picture with him after the meal. He ordered fried rice “with mad eggs in it” and demanded that all the leftovers not be thrown away but be taken with them and given to any homeless people that they would see around town that night. He’s one of my idols so it was pretty cool.
 

2. What type of college class would you’d most want to take and why?

Probably a Philosophy class, I’ve always been interested in different perspectives and alternate ways of thinking.
 

3. What city in America is the most fun to visit and why?

I always have a really good time in New York. As soon as step foot there, I can feel the energy of the city pulsing around me. There’s always something going on.
 

4. What’s some of the best advice you were ever given?

I saw Van Dyke Parks speak two years ago in Montreal and he had amazing songwriting advice. He talked of empathy, reacting and getting out of the way and reduced songwriting to one question: “How did the boy get on the dolphin?”
 

5. What’s in heavy rotation in your MP3/CD player right now?

Lately I’ve been listening to the Cleaners From Venus, Future, Randy Newman, Death Grips, Dean Blunt and Inga Copeland, Robert Wyatt, 2 Chainz, Jam City and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs.
 

6. The last good book you read or TV show you’re addicted to?

I’m really into HBO’s Girls. What Lena Dunham is doing is comparable to what Louie did but in a way that encapsulates the experience of people my age. She has a way of nailing these sentiments and these ambiguous relationships that haven’t really been explored by visual media before. It’s great.
 

7. What’s the first concert you ever saw – how was it?

The first concert I ever went to was Montell Jordan and Boys II Men at the Coliseum in Edmonton. It was totally awesome and I wish I still had my Montell Jordan “This Is How We Do It” hat today.
 

8. What are three items you can’t live without on tour?

My laptop, my iPod and my notebook.
 

9. Who are your major musical influences?

Neil Young, Prince, Ghostface Killah, Stevie Wonder, Nas, Native Tongues, James Brown, Talking Heads, Grace Jones, Timbaland, Aphex Twin, Prince Paul, Harry Nilsson.
 

Any random messages or tips you’d like to give to mtvU watchers?

Don’t join too many clubs in college!

1. Tell us about your craziest touring experience?

I seriously cannot wait to go on my very first tour this summer!! But since I haven’t had any of my own yet, I would definitely say my craziest experience would have been when I was a really young & used to be a be a background singer. I had the incredible opportunity to sing background for Ashlee Simpson @ the 2006 MTV VMA’s in Sydney Australia!! Sydney is such a gorgeous city & It was incredible to be there supporting another amazing artist & doing what I love!
 

2. What type of college class would you’d most want to take and why?

I’m really into Philosophy.. That would for sure be my first choice
 

3. What city in America is the most fun to visit and why?

Hmm. Well I adore New York.. & Miami is always a blast.. But if I weren’t from my city, I’d definitely love visiting LA!! It’s one of the coolest in my opinion.
 

4. What’s some of the best advice you were ever given?

One of the best pieces advice I’ve ever been given is to think incessantly about whatever it is I want to appear in my life & completely block out everything else that contradicts that, regardless of how it may seem on the outside looking In. Keep it up & one day it’s guaranteed to show up! .. Oh yea & always be yourself NO MATTER WHAT!!
 

5. What’s in heavy rotation in your MP3/CD player right now?

Honestly I’m super focused on writing an amazing debut album so I’ve got tracks on tracks on tracks on repeat while I’m in my zone! But if I’m not writing I’m getting inspired by someone cool like Bob Marley or maybe gettin buck w/ Big Sean or Drake.. & probably vibin out to Jhene Aiko.
 

6. The last good book you read or TV show you’re addicted to?

Last good book I read was “7 habits of highly effective people” by Steven R. Covey. It’s all about self empowerment & reaching goals in practical everyday life. I love watching bios on the biography channel but I’m also totally addicted to ratchet shows like Bad girls club too. Oh yea & I love game shows like total blackout & ninja warrior!
 

7. What’s the first concert you ever saw – how was it?

Lol it’s super random, but when I was a kid George Benson was my 1st concert with my dad. He’s like one of the dopest guitarists in the world yo.
 

8. What are three items you can’t live without on tour?

My iPhone (so I can instagram) my favorite Lip gloss & a super cozy blanket!
 

9. Who are your major musical influences?

I’m a huge fan 90′s music so I often see influences in my music from Outkast, No Doubt, Missy Elliot, TLC & Busta Rhymes. I also am super inspired by Mariah Carey. She’s such an incredible voice yet such an amazingly successful songwriter. I hope I can have longevity like her.
 

Any random messages or tips you’d like to give to mtvU watchers?

Always stay true, stay focused, stay original & Stay tuned to the NiRé AllDai movement! I have soo much in store for this year & I can’t wait to share!!!
XxOo