[Interview] Shaun White Presents Air + Style at The Rose Bowl: Snowboarders + Skiers + Kendrick Lamar, Steve Aoki, Diplo, The Flaming Lips, Phantogram, Portugal. The Man, Sleigh Bells, and More

Tweet

We're ten minutes into our interview talking about Air + Style, the snowboarding/skiing/music event that Shaun White is bringing to Los Angeles -- its U.S. debut -- on February 21 and 22 (purchase tickets here), and White's dog isn't having it. "Sorry," White says. "He's outside fuckin' barkin' at people."

The Rose Bowl is about to get barking as well.


White needs little introducing. He has won 10 ESPY Awards, is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, and is the most-decorated X-Games medalist -- a true iconic figure in snowboarding.

But perhaps you haven't heard: he's also in a touring band called Bad Things. The synthrock group is set to perform at Air + Style alongside heavyweights such as Kendrick Lamar, Steve Aoki, The Flaming Lips, Diplo, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Sleigh Bells, and Phantogram.

"We toured with Phantogram, who are friends of ours in New York," White tells me. "They're blowing up. They had a single, "Fall in Love," and they're playing Air & Style as well. So that will be great."

White now owns Air + Style, a 20-year-old event first held in Innsbruck, Austria in 1994. It sets out to combine the best in snowboarding (Sage Kotsenburg, Mark McMorris), skiing (Joss Christensen), and music (Kendrick Lamar, The Flaming Lips).

I recently spoke to White about bringing Air + Style to the United States for the first time.

So this is the first Air & Style in the U.S. What made you want to bring it to the Rose Bowl?

I go way back with the event. I was a competitor there, had some of my first major wins in 2002 and 2003, so it was really big for me. And I remember loving this event, and it was super exciting and I was becoming well known in Austria, which was just a trip, when you're 15 or 16, you know. (laughing)

So, I remember being a part of it there, and my career took me in a different path at one point when I entered the Olympics and other things. And the event grew and I became a host of the event when it moved into China five years ago, so it was a really cool role for me -- promoting, hosting, all of that.

But I thought, "we should do something bigger, I'd love to do this for the United States." And so, I knew the owner, and I opened the door with that, when we got to talking I just said, "look, if I'm going to be part of this, I want to go all the way." So, I became the new owner of the event, and from there, the plan was still to bring it to the United States, and I'm thinking, "gosh, I grew up riding Big Bear, Snow Summit, these mountains...it's actually so much nicer to ride when it's warm and soft, you know, pleasing conditions outside.

I remember skiing in warm weather once, somewhere in West Virginia. The best time, for sure. 

Yeah. Yeah, people are like, what, you grew up in Cailfornia? And I'm like, "yeah, I rode in a sweatshirt, it was awesome." People I know in New York are like, "it's gonna snow, are you pumped?" And I say, "I'm from the beach, man." I love to snowboard, but I get out after the event. (laughing)

As for the Rose Bowl, I remember being at the Bowl for like a flea market, and people were scattered all over the outside as well as the inside, and I was thinking it would just be a perfect scenario for us. Plus, it's so central to L.A.

Well, let's talk about the athletic talent. You're not competing in the event, but you're playing music with your band, and I'll get to that in a minute. But can you talk about the roster of talent -- you have Sage, Mark McMorris and others.

It's heavy, man. There's always like the funny talk about me and the industry, and how I don't like the cold that much, but these guys live in the mountains and ride 24/7. Mark's from Canada, I mean...it's kind of their life in a way. I've always lived a different lifestyle; my friends are musicians and artists and actors -- just because of the area I grew up in. So, it's great to have them standing behind me in support of this event. For me, it's awesome to have that happen. Of course, Sage won the Olympics, McMorris in an X-Games gold medalist may times over.

And this was pretty heavy, too -- the original creator of the event, it took some convincing, but I told him, "let's put skiing in the event." And he was like, "Uhhhhh..." Because he comes from that day in age where they didn't want skiers on the mountains, they were kind of cutting them off at every turn to create their own companies or be part of the snow industry at that point, So, it was a very frowned upon thing. And I said, "look, my generation, most of us ski and snowboard -- I don't see the difference. It's kind of an old thing and outdated." And you don't want to be the guy excluding the skiier. So I brought skiing on, which was a big change for everyone. I'm really excited about it -- we have Josh Christensen and Bobby Brown, really talented riders.

So let's talk about the music part of it. The lineup of artists is world class. Can you talk about how you started to think about the lineup, and maybe who you wanted to perform?

So, it kind of went down...and thank you, man, thank you. Because I'm really proud of our lineup, and I'm really excited to see everyone perform. It was a mixture of things. It was my wishlist of bands I hadn;t seen before, and people who were available, and then, you know, friends -- people who I could call.

The Flaming Lips was a great example. We bumped into them a couple of times, and we got invited to play a show with them on New Year's Eve up in San Francisco at The Warfield, and after the show I'm telling them, "you gotta come to my show!" And they're like, "alright, alright!" (laughing) So that was like our last big addition to the roster.

But being a musician as well, we have met bands, we've been able to bump into people and become friends. We've toured with Phantogram, and Cults is a group who grew up in San Diego. And obviously Kendrick Lamar, who just did SNL. I'm pretty excited about it because it's a mixture -- you have the Steve Aokis and Diplos of the world, and then you have Flaming Lips and Portugal. The Man and Surfer Blood...Edward Sharpe. It's gonna be great.

Bad Things

And then your band, Bad Things. How long have you been touring with them?

(laughing) So that was funny because I was like, "We're not gonna play. I don't wanna play my own thing." But then I'm like, "well shit, I'm gonna be so jealous when everybody is playing we're not, you know?" (laughing) And then it just got to, "why not, you know? We should be playing to have fun, because that's what the event is all about." Just having fun and playing music. I just got too much in my head about what people might think, so I was like, "you know, we'll play an appropriate time slot!" (laughing)

But the band, you know, it's kind of funny how this came together. I won my first guitar at X-Games, it was an American Fender Strat. So, it was a trip. I wasn't even supposed to play it -- I think you were supposed to hang it in the wall, it was a really nice guitar, and so...it was bright yellow, said "First Place" on it. (laughs) So I started playing the guitar, and I just fell in love with it. I would travel with it, and keep an amp in my board bag, and pedals and all these things. Oh, and you find out there's different voltage in Europe and your amp blows up. (laughing)

It's kind of like speaking a language almost. You make friends through music, and that's what it really did for me -- it kind shaped my life at that point. It's really funny, people think sports really changed my life, but it wasn't...(Bad Things) really kind of put me on a different path, because at that point all my friends were super into hip hop and Eminem and Ludacris, and this got me into the rock genre. And so anyways, I started playing with friends in the neighborhood, and this guy Anthony, he grew up on the street above me. He's in the band, back up singing and rhythm guitarist -- he was the guy who showed me how to play, he studied music in school. So, we linked up and things got pretty serious when we moved to L.A. There was a guy names Jared Palomar who was in Augustana, so we grabbed him, and then we met our lead singer, Davis LeDuke.

And I wouldn't let anyone listen to us play, I was super weirded out about it. And they were like, there's this one guy from Warner Brothers who is super honest, and he'll just walk out if he hates you. So I was like, "alright, I like that!" (laughs) Because I don't need anyone to come pat my ass and tell me I'm special. Be real, you know? (laughing) So he came over and he said, "this is cool, I think I have some thoughts." And from there we got really motivated and kept writing and writing. It was an interesting process because we completed the whole album before we ever played a show.

And then at Lollapalooza we lucked out -- we had one of the main acts drop out, and we took their slot because we just happened to be there. (laughs). They're like, "the main act dropped out, we need a band to fill this slot." And we're just standing there with our instruments there like, "uhhhhh...." (laughing) So, like, fuck, okay! But anyways. (laughing)

Purchase tickets to Air + Style at The Rose Bowl in Los Angeles here.

Jam of the Day | Kendrick Lamar - i

Tweet

It's no secret - Speakers in Code doesn't exactly "specialize" in the hip-hop genre. But that's cool, we throw our folk-game like we were born with a golden harmonica in our mouths.  But sometimes, even WE get a little run down listening to all those ladies and gents slinging-acoustics, and we need something that'll spark some new movement from our seated-show shoes.

"i" is pretty much the perfect prescription to both silence the classic-rap naysayers claiming there's nothing "intelligent" going on in rap right now, as well as get us up out of our seats.

Plus, I love myself too. So there's that.

2013 Austin City Limits Music Festival Recap + Photos | Weekend 2, Part 2

Tweet

Este Haim | All photos by Katie Moulton

Words and photos by Katie Moulton

Weekend 2, Day 2: The crowds got bigger, the sun got hotter, and the rock shows got better. (For a review of Day 1, click here.)

Saturday, October 12

Parquet Courts, 11:30am, Bud Light stage

One of the first sets of the day was by Parquet Courts, a band touted by many critics as slacker punks with a quintessentially Brooklyn sound—even though three of its four members (Austin Brown, Andrew and Max Savage) happen to be from Texas. The only possible giveaway during the typically breakneck set came during a brief tuning moment when guitarist/vocalist Brown ad-libbed a singalong to “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” Looking a little road-weary after a year of non-stop touring in support of critical hit Light Up Gold, the band nonetheless tore through the setlist with verve for a small crowd—playing much of that album in order (since the sequencing is so damn tight already), while mixing in songs from recently-released EP Tally All the Things That You Broke (i.e. “You've Got Me Wonderin' Now”), a cover by an Austin band, and a couple of songs such as “Dear Ramona” that perhaps will appear on their next full-length. I can't wait.

Parquet Courts

My Jerusalem, 12:00pm, Austin Ventures stage

ACL features plenty of “local” bands—probably because the city hosts such an embarrassment of musical riches. Jeff Klein, formerly of the Twilight Singers and Gutter Twins, is one such treasure. His latest project is My Jerusalem, and they'd been touring behind their second album Preachers, jumping off the road for the hometown gig—and heading right back out the next day. For the few songs I caught, Klein's heavy growl was front-and-center, a sound reminiscent of a darker, denser Kings of Leon.

Deap Vally / Autre Ne Veut

Back at the Bud Light stage, L.A. guitar-and-drums duo Deap Vally took off the top of my head with a mix of rock and wailing soul. Flame-haired drummer Julie Edwards rioted with the kit, and Lindsey Troy belted it out and laid on the licks; she even called out from the stage to the guy who taught her guitar ten years ago. Good job, dude, but the axe heroics belong to her now.

Deap Vally

For something completely different, I caught the end of set of fringe-R&B by Autre Ne Veut (otherwise known as Arthur Ashin). The singer somehow combined his haunting falsetto with raw emotional energy, sometimes bursting into a desperate stream of verse, backed up by a powerful female vocalist.

HAIM, 2:00pm, Lady Bird stage

            

The throngs massed early to howl for Haim, the hottest sister act on the scene. The trio (plus drummer Dash Hutton) hit the stage in a flurry of waist-length hair and charm. The set started strong with new hits from full-length debut Days Are Gone, including radio single “The Wire,” and lots of flirty, funny banter from bassist Este. For the rest of the show they settled into the soft, shimmery, poised pop that characterizes much of their album, but the highlight for me was when lead vocalist/guitarist (and dark, powerful center of the band) Danielle told the crowd she and her sisters were “going to jam, just like at home,” and they launched into some unbridled riffs that hinted at the energy and artistry Haim is capable of—whenever they decide to let it shine.

HAIM

 Grimes / The Joy Formidable

I did not take the advice of a very wise commenter on my Preview post, who recommended that I skip Grimes and just stake out a prime spot for Welsh rockers The Joy Formidable. Instead I bet on the hype machine and joined the teeny-boppers for one-woman synth-pop project Grimes. However, after a few minutes of Grimes' tinkering with petal-draped keyboards and ambient whisper-moaning whilst making doe-eyes at the crowd—I got bored. Even after the backup dancers in shiny pants appeared.

Grimes

So I high-tailed it to the other side of the festival grounds, leaping whole picnics in a single bound. JF was already in the midst of  high-velocity show, and set-closer “Whirring” rang with as much ferocious longing as it does in my ear buds.

Kendrick Lamar, 7:00pm, Honda stage

I waded through a churning sea of humanity, then waited in line to be allowed into the crowded photo pit. Festival security tightened to a nervous chokehold for Kendrick Lamar's highly-anticipated set. The youths were so dang excited, y'all. Tens of thousands of people may have been slammed up against the railing waiting for hip hop's hottest ticket, but they remained relatively polite about it all (only one man was removed before the show started). When rap's 26-year-old king-of-the-moment—crowned by his skills even more than by his boasts—came on, he channeled the crowd's mad energy into a solid performance, engaging from the edge of the stage while delivering anthem after anthem from last year's good kid, m.A.A.d. City. I couldn't help but feed off the force of it (and the quality of the material)—though it was hilarious to watch suburban tweens screaming the hook to A$AP Rocky's “Fuckin' Problems” and lyrics like “pussy and Patron will make you feel alright.” That's a metaphor, right?

Kendrick Lamar

The Cure, 8:00pm, Lady Bird stage

As Kendrick Lamar's set reached a climax, I found myself in need a of a shortcut to say goodbye to friends loading out—on the opposite side of the festival grounds. All that stood between us was 75,000 bodies. Fortunately, I managed to scam my way into a backstage VIPgolf cart ride. (It's not as glamorous as it sounds—if it sounds glamorous at all—but at ACL, it's priceless.)

           

I went running back into the grounds just in time to hear The Cure kicking in under clear skies more midnight-blue than Robert Smith's eyeliner. His face writ large on the big screen may have appeared buried under a corpse-level of makeup, but his voice sounded as bright and light as ever. They may have been playing “Just Like Heaven,” but for the crowd on the grass under the stars—swaying, dancing, making out—it may have felt just like something even better. 

I headed off into the Austin night, and the city invited me in as it had all weekend—no matter which wristband I wore.

Festival Preview | Austin City Limits Weekend 2, October 11-13, 2013

Tweet

Photo by Jason Gonulsen

Words by Katie Moulton

Overload.

Today's massive music festivals promise excess of experience—whether it's headliners piled on top of each other, the stimulants (rock-climbing wall! fingernail art!) that have nothing to do with music, or the legions of fans they attract. In fact, Austin City Limits festival in Austin, Texas has grown so big that this year it expanded to two full weekends, with musical happenings bleeding through the week between.

Since I'm a solo first-timer (at ACL and in the city of Austin), the key to my weekend is to avoid becoming overloaded. First, I'm doing my homework – while I won't discount an act based on their performance last weekend, a rave review could pull me in their direction. At least for a few songs.

The real key is prioritization, so below is a preview of sets that for me are 1) Can't Miss; 2) On the Itinerary (but no guarantees); and 3) Only if there's no booze left in the media tent.

Friday, October 11:

Can't Miss:

Purity Ring (7:45pm), Austin Ventures: Shrines, the debut by this crafty boy-girl Canadian duo, has stayed strong as one of my favorite albums of 2012-2013 thanks to its ethereal synth weirdness and Megan James' robotic angel voice. I can't wait to see how this cavernous-yet-minimal synthpop translates to a vast open space at sunset.

Savages (1:00pm), Honda: I caught this all-female, black-clad art-rock outfit in the blazing heat of this year's Pitchfork festival, and one note from lead singer Jehnny Beth turned my sweat to ice. The British band's debut album came out earlier this year, and while critics like Jim DeRogatis of “Sound Opinions” tout it as a best-of-the-decade, I maintain their live performance is far superior.

On the Itinerary:

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down (1:30pm), Barton Springs: No one in the alt-folk game sounds quite like Thao Nguyen, and the band's 2013 political-minded We the Common is feisty as hell.

Arctic Monkeys (6:30pm), Skyline: Since Kanye West won't be demanding my full attention (link: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/10/kanye-west-arctic-monkeys-jimmy-kimmel-live), I'll check out these British punk revivalists fronted by Alex Turner, who with their latest effort AM, are showing signs of maturity within their wry, eff-off attitude.

No Booze in the Media Tent:

Vampire Weekend  (6:00pm), Lady Bird: This year, this band known (to me) for their Ivy League aesthetic and lazier-than-Paul-Simon co-opting of cultural sounds in service to slick indie pop...put out a pretty good record. Let's see what they do live. Maybe.

WTF:

The Verve Pipe (2:30-55), Austin Kiddie Limits: The band's best-known hit was 1996's “The Freshmen,” a song about teenage suicide and drug use among other light themes, has since become the single that never dies. Now the Verve Pipe do kids' music?

Saturday, October 12:

Can't Miss:

Parquet Courts, (11:30am), Barton Springs: If you don't own last year's instant post-punk classic Light Up Gold...well, rectify that. Then check out the Brooklyn-by-way-of-Texas foursome's new EP Tally All the Things You Broke, released just last week. It's the sound of the band spreading out, with a particularly Beck-ian closing track. None of the recorded intensity is lost on-stage, with the added bonus of bassist Sean Yeaton's whiplash-inducing head-banging.

Este Haim | Photo by Jason Gonulsen

HAIM, (2:00pm), Lady Bird: Don't wanna say I told you so, but...I did. (link, scroll down page 1, and page 2: http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/rftmusic/2010/04/show_review_setlist_julian_casablancas_strokes_st_louis_april_26_2010_haim_phrazes_photos_video.php)  With new release Days Are Gone debuting high on the charts (#1 in the UK! #6 in the US!) and infectious single “The Wire” living in my ear, this trio of LA sisters (every one more talented than the last) is blowing up.

Kendrick Lamar (7:00pm), Honda: Have no doubt, Kendrick Lamar, as one of the most exciting hip hop artists in recent memory with last year's good kid, m.A.A.d. city and the throwdown verse heard round the world, will draw the throngs. And I finally get to be there.

On the Itinerary:

Grimes (5:00pm), Honda / The Joy Formidable (5:00pm), Barton Springs: Here I'm divided. Grimes is the project of Canadian Claire Boucher—bizarrely beautiful/beautifully bizarre mystic-pop that's as visually intriguing as it is sonically. Wales' The Joy Formidable has mastered a wailing wall of rock, and I'd love to experience the blast of “Whirring” live.

No Booze:

The Cure (8:00pm), Lady Bird: I guess I have to, right? But could they ever sound as good as they did on the stereo while I bopped or moped around my middle-school bedroom?

Sunday, October 13:

Unfortunately, I have to catch a flight Sunday afternoon (assuming I'm still mobile), so I'll miss most of the highlights. If you're there, this is what I would do.

Can't miss: The Super-Groups

Divine Fits (4:30pm), Honda: Britt Daniel of Spoon + Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade/Handsome Furs = stylish, growling excellent rock and a surging gothy cover of early-Nick Cave's “Shivers” I haven't been able to shake for a year.

Atoms for Peace (7:40pm), Lady Bird: Radiohead's Thom Yorke has teamed up with Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea. Rock spectacle shall ensue. Just get ready for it. 

Interview | ZZ Ward: "If you want to reach the world, you have to work really, really hard."

Tweet

Photo by LeAnn Mueller

A year from now, things won't be the same for ZZ Ward.

The multifaceted and absurdly talented artist who grew up in Roseburg, Oregon should take a deep breath now, because those 1.1 million views for her video, "Put the Gun Down," will soon seem ordinary.

And the day is arriving when  you won't have to Google her name to find out who she is (sure, you can do it right now).

ZZ Ward has it, whatever that is. After hearing her debut album, Til The Casket Drops, I thought of when I first heard Adele, The Civil Wars, The Lumineers, and Gary Clark Jr. Some fine company, sure, and I'm obviously feeding into the hype, but magic is magic, and it's starting to unfold. All we have to do is listen.

She calls her sound "dirty shine," which is loosely defined as a mix of blues, soul, hip-hop, pop, and whatever else Ward is feeling that very second.

Thankfully, we can still catch her at a small club. Ward, who writes or co-writes all of the songs on her debut album, will be performing at The Firebird in Saint Louis on December 3rd ($10), and will also be giving a special meet and greet performance at Vintage Vinyl the day before (12/2, 6PM).

We were lucky to catch up with ZZ over the phone before she hit the road, chatting it up about her debut album, her hip-hop and blues background, growing up in Roseburg, moving to L.A., and Kendrick Lamar. 

ZZ, how are you doing?

I'm great, how are you?

Great. I'm in St. Louis, and you'll be here next week. Pretty sure it will be your first time here.

Yeah, it is kind of exciting. I really don't know what to expect.

Well, let's go back. You grew up in Oregon. Tell me about small-town Oregon, and how that led you to become a musician and how that environment inspired you.

Well, it's interesting, I moved from Pennsylvania when I was six to Oregon. I moved from the suburbs of Philadelphia to middle of nowhere, really. Where I grew up, the population of Roseburg, Oregon was like 20,000 people, and I lived like a half an hour outside that town -- on like a 23-acre farm lot.

So, you're way out there.

Oh, I'm way out there, way out there! I mean, it's crazy...you don't really register things like that until you leave and then you go back. So when I've gone back from living in L.A., I've been like, "wow." Literally, driving to my house, there will be like three deer, racoons, and owls flying across the road -- I'm in the middle of nowhere. (laughing)

But, I think growing up there, if anything, I had to find ways to be creative with my time. It wasn't like there were all these events to go to, or my friends were right down the street that I could walk to; it wasn't like that. It was like I was home a lot if I wasn't spending the weekend at one of my friends' houses. And, I would just figure out ways to be creative. My dad was really into music -- he was a songwriter and a singer, and he would kind of always be working on stuff to channel his creativity when I was growing up, so I saw that a lot, and that's what got me into it.

Gotcha. That's great. Do you foresee it being a little more difficult now to create not living in that environment versus now living in L.A.?

It's definitely different in ways. When I'm writing music, if I'm trying to write sometimes...there's people in the city, you know? People in apartment complexes, ambulances going. (laughs) I don't know, though, it hasn't really changed what's inside of me, which is just this ability to really tell stories and describe things with lyrics and express myself with melodies -- I carry those things with me wherever I go. It's definitely changed as far as moving to the city -- I've been here in L.A. for three years now, and it took a lot of getting used to.

Well, you're able to express yourself in many different ways, which a lot of people are taking to, and that's what I took to. I'm interested in how that came to be. And you mentioned your dad, but, your dad didn't listen to rap music, did he?

No, he didn't. That came from my brother, my older brother. He was really into hip-hop, and my parents definitely didn't know I was listening to hip-hop because of all the bad words, but I would just kind of steal his hip-hop CDs, like his Jay-Z stuff, and his Nas CDs, and I always really liked hip-hop -- I don't know what it was, I guess the beats and the flow of the rap artist and the sincerity of it, the rawness and honesty of the lyrics. I just really connected with that.

And I started driving up to Eugene, which was the biggest city near me, which was about an hour and a half north of where I was, when I was 16 or 17. And I started to get into the local hip-hop scene, which was a very small scene, but we opened for Bone Thugs-N- Harmony and Mike Jones, when they'd come through Eugene. (laughing)

And what were you doing? Were you singing?

I was singing. I was writing choruses for local rap artists that were in Eugene. So, they would rap, and I would come out and sing the choruses. So, I think that growing up singing the blues with a full band behind me, and also doing hip-hop shows, and I've also played a lot solo, so...all the different types of performing have shaped me as an artist.


You know, you said something interesting that I think is really important, that in hip-hop and rap, the lyrics are very important, and they have a strong message, and I think that a lot of people don't really realize that. Can you talk about what lyrics mean to you as an artist?

Yeah, I think that with the blues, there's this sincerity and storytelling and emotion. And I think with hip-hop, you know, every artist and every song is different, but a lot of hip-hop, for me, it was really talking about the artist's life, and where they were coming from, and that they wanted more from their life. So, I could totally relate to that in my own way, being out in the middle of nowhere, not really having a lot of opportunities at my fingertips, so I had to kind of go chase it, and I could relate to that.

Was it hard to leave your surroundings in Oregon?

It was very hard, yeah. It was really hard. (pauses) I think about it sometimes, and how scary it was. It was really daring. And especially just not knowing where I start; I mean, you know you want to do music, but...a lot of things, a lot of people -- there's this big mystery on how you get your music out there and what you do, and I think everyone's path is kind of unique to them. You just have to figure it out as you go.

And with anything, starting out is always the hardest part. Did you just keep writing songs? Did you just keep building on things you had learned?

Well, when I moved down here, I definitely did write a lot. (laughs) I don't think I really thought about how much I would write until I had some friends recently say, "Wow, it's really crazy to see how far you've come. We remember the nights when you said you wouldn't go out with us because you said you were going to write." And yeah, I really did. I would stay in and write. Because you really have to dedicate everything to it.

Do you feel that was a big sacrifice?

No, I don't feel like it was a big sacrifice considering what's come of it. (laughs) It was just the things I was doing. Sometimes, you have to think: if you want to reach the world, and reach people super far away from you all over the world, you have to work really, really hard. And you have to sacrifice things, and if you didn't sacrifice things then you might not reach those places.

Photo by LeAnn Mueller

How does it feel to perform this music live? Are there challenges each night to get the sound that you want?

Oh yeah. The most challenging part is sound, it really is. I don't think the layman would think about that. The crowds are great, my fans are incredible -- they are always ready to have a good time, and they don't care if you mess up or trip or whatever. They just don't care. That part is always there. And even my band -- we're not always perfect every night, it's just not going to happen. (laughs) And perfection is just not fun anyways.

And some of these songs can get emotional, like "Last Love Song." Is that one hard to perform, or are you able to get in that moment and get out of it?

I think that, it's interesting -- the good thing is that I have to be careful how many songs like that that I write. You do have to give a lot of yourself every night to sing a song like that. I'm sure there are a lot of artists that write an entire record like that, and that would be challenging and draining to have to do that every night. But, I think the way that I've done it is with one song, and I can handle it. And the thing that will always pull me through is my fans, and if it means something to them, I'm going to do it every night.

Absolutely. It's always an interesting thing -- when I go to shows, I think everybody is sort of secretly wanting to feel something without having to show it.

Oh, definitely. Definitely. And every city is different. I just played a show in Atlanta, and they were wild from the very beginning. But sometimes, crowds come out, and they really do want to have a good time, but they don't know where to get started with it, and I kind of have to lead the room, and let them know that we're all here to have a good time.

Finally, how was it working with someone like Kendrick Lamar, who has a cameo on "Cryin Wolf." How did that all come about?

Well, I did this mixtape, and I flipped his song, and I flipped a Freddie Gibbs song. And it got some attention, and they liked what they heard, and they wanted to work on this record with me. "Cryin Wolf" is definitely an obscure, different song, and Kendrick is incredibly talented, you know, he's such an amazing storyteller, and I think it really shows how amazing he is to go to a song and really make it his own.

ZZ Ward w/ Yellow Red Sparks + Felix and Lyons | The Firebird, St. Louis | December 3rd, 8:30 PM | $10