Benjamin Booker
My sister is an opera singer. I grew up going to her recitals. This whole time, I'm like, 'She's the singer. I'm just strumming along and yelling.'
The time after college and before music was really rough. I couldn't afford food. I was eating bread and butter for five months. Living in New Orleans, I couldn't afford to take care of myself. I had no health insurance.
In 2012, I started writing songs - not for the world to hear, but for certain people I needed to talk to. My family, we were not big communicators. I had a hard time talking to people in general.
As soon as I started writing the first batch, I had a vision. I saw me on stage playing a certain type of music. I want to take these blues melodies over aggressive guitars. I heard the sound I wanted to make. I knew what I wanted to do. It wasn't ever there before.
My grandfather learned to swim in the Navy by getting thrown off a boat into the ocean. He had to learn fast. And I think I learn pretty well under pressure.
I don't think I ever wanted to be a journalist - I was more interested in what comes from being a journalist.
Even when I interviewed bands, it was about asking them about writing songs, so it was more for me than anybody else.
There are a lot of really good skills you get from doing journalism - it completely changed my world and how I interact with other people.
I went to school in Gainesville because it was a huge punk and folk town. So I went to class twice a week, and then I went to shows and wrote. I did a lot of music writing before I actually started playing music.
I guess I would call my music 'blues punk.' There's a lot of influences.
I've been making music since I was 14, but for a while, I was afraid to perform.
New Orleans style is funky - it's just as experimental as the city. There aren't any rules. If you want to wear a polka-dot shirt and some crazy pants, you can get away with it there.
I was just a music lover who wondered what it would sound like if Otis Redding strapped on a guitar and played in a punk band. That's it.
I've grown up on gospel and blues music, and now it's a huge part of who I am.
Music helped me to get out of a rough period in my life when I really struggled to see any future for myself and was terrified about what was happening to the people around me.
Folk-punk artists like This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb or Paul Baribeau were popular in the Florida punk community. I saw people early on combine roots music with more aggressive music.
Blind Willie Johnson is a pretty big vocal influence. He can be very harsh, like gargly, gruff vocals, but also just slip into some very delicate, vulnerable soft stuff. I like that combination.
I was just a music lover who wondered what it would sound like if Otis Redding strapped on a guitar and played in a punk band. Thats it.Collection: Guitar
I guess I would call my music blues punk. Theres a lot of influences.Collection: Influence
I realized that the reason why my head was so cluttered and why I was so unstable and not taking care of myself, all of these things, was that I was unhappy. If I wanted to get to a happier place and find some kind of peace, I was going to have to address problems with myself, things from my life up until that point that I hadn't dealt with: insecurities, fears, and those kinds of things.Collection: Insecurity
I dont think I ever wanted to be a journalist - I was more interested in what comes from being a journalist.Collection: Thinking
It's not enough to have good intentions. If you want to be a good person, you have to make good decisions all the time and live a life that's worth living and that you can be proud of, and that's what I wanted.Collection: Decision
You will never have the answers, but you have to keep pushing yourself and keep reading and keep working on yourself.Collection: Reading
I hope that I can make music that helps people in some way or that they can connect with, and that I can just live a life where I'm surrounded by people that I love.Collection: People
I think everybody that grows up in Florida, you've got a little chip on your shoulder. It's not as bad as people think it is, but it's pretty bad. When you go to other places you're just like, "Oh, god. What was that about?"Collection: Growing Up
You have to have some kind of clarity or understanding of what's happening to write.Collection: Writing
Life is short, so I am one of those people - and luckily my girlfriend is too - who wants to live everywhere. I don't know how long I'll be there, but I like it right now.Collection: Girlfriend
I hardly ever go back to Florida. It's really hard to go back. I mean, I hated it so much. I didn't grow up in a great neighborhood, and it puts me back in that feeling of, "I want to get out immediately." That was kind of the push and what still pushes me, that I don't want to end up back there.Collection: Growing Up