Many films about trans people have this weird suggestion that they don't have the chance to be happy.Collection: Chance
Yeah, I mean, having been raised like a Catholic, I have a sort of sympathy for religion, in that I think that religion's religion. It can be bad or good. People can take it however they want. My parents, for example, aren't as negative or oppressive as certain strands of Christianity and other religions are.Collection: Religion
It's a cliche, but although we're all different, we're also pretty similar. Rather than caring about the problems that affect us alone, maybe we should start caring about the problems that we've created and start reversing them.Collection: Alone
Instruments are just planks of wood, or just computers or whatever, but they help us translate the most difficult aspects of life and make the conversations we have much easier and much more universal.Collection: Computers
The glam-rock era was just full of life. I'm fascinated by the clothes that musicians of that era could get away with wearing, and the concepts of space and time that were invariant to the music of the 1970s. The energy! The freedom! The inspiration!Collection: Space
Sonny' is a very sad song that I wrote. It's just me playing this beautiful guitar with flat wound strings and I was sat on a sofa chair.Collection: Sad
I have five older siblings, so we were always sharing stuff. I think my parents did a good job of letting us all discover ourselves and understand what's truly important to us.Collection: Good
I'm pretty sure the first album I bought was a CD of 'Electric Ladyland' by Jimi Hendrix when I was about nine. I got it for my best friend from school at the time, because we loved Hendrix and became obsessed with 'Crosstown Traffic' in particular. I think it was for his birthday, but I definitely ripped it onto my MP3 player at some point.Collection: Birthday
I tried to be in loads of bands and it hadn't really worked out. My friends weren't as into it as I was, so I started doing it on my own and eventually, released some songs and stuff just happened from there.
I am of the opinion that you can do anything. If I say I can do it, then people can believe that I can do it.
I wouldn't be in the position I am now without social media. It has put a lot of power into the hands of creators and artists to just do things on their own terms, but I think that this is what is causing an epidemic of anxiety; people just constantly need information.
Just because something's important doesn't mean I necessarily have to write songs about it and release them right now.
I have a platform and I want to use it wisely rather than just being like 'this is the hot topic' and forcing myself to write songs about it.
The first show I ever went to was called Farm Festival in 2010 and I saw Bob Dylan and other loads of great band and that was a really great start.
You think about how we could do better to serve humans and to live happier and more constructive lives - to live less destructively as well. That's something that has always been in my head when I am making music, 'How could things be better?'
So many things are translated through music - that's the beauty of it. If everyone's experiencing something, someone's going to put it into music and at some point, it will feel right.
The idea of young people being seen but not heard and trying not to say anything too offensive isn't such a thing any more.
I had too many guys with big egos chasing me, claiming they knew the way to make things work for this 'wonder kid,' all off the back of one song.
I think that's what a lot of politics lacks, it's just a sense of responsibility for what we do in the world and who we impact on with our actions and not thinking about the bigger picture of things you know.
I wanted to write a song that was outright against war, in any form.
I feel that it's vitally important to write and talk about people struggling with young people's beliefs, young people not being listened to and not being taken seriously.
There have been moments where I've felt really inspired for a short period, been really zoned in, but when I get like that, I get too excited and completely burn myself out for a couple of days and go back to not really doing anything.
I mean, you have to try and make the best music you can, and you're not going to do that by emulating something you don't believe is the best.
I wouldn't really describe myself directly as, like, a political musician. I think I have an opinion on a lot of things, and I guess I'm someone who wants to share that and wants to make a point about, you know, certain things I think are right and wrong.
I've always written songs. I learned guitar when I was 9 or 10 years old and it sort of developed from there. When I was 13 and got a loop pedal, I started writing a little more and trying to make a musical project of songs.
I just want to make songs that I like and be able to get away with doing music for as long as I can get away with it.
Just having a record out there and seeing the positive feedback and just being able to move on and work on something else is a really nice point to be at.
Whenever anybody is saying really, really nice things about you, or really, really horrible things, it's just sensationalism.
A lot of the time, artists and musicians can get criticised for being ignorant or silly or not understanding the real world. And I think it's important to show that a) you care about a lot of things, and b) actually try and get the people who listen to your music to engage in certain issues.
I've never seen myself as a strictly political songwriter in a sense, but I think in the world that we live in, and with so much access to the Internet and stuff, I think it's difficult to avoid certain topics.
One of the most annoying questions I get asked is, 'What do you think you'll write about next?' I don't know!
I have a lot of friends who don't identify as a boy or a girl. I myself don't identify as either straight or gay.
From my own perspective I think I'm always getting better, which is what you'd hope.
Things have kept changing and developing. I don't think it can ever be exactly how you imagine it will be.
When I was 9, I got guitar lessons in my school, just classical guitar. I didn't really like it much. Nowadays, I appreciate classical music a lot more than I did then.
I like the generation that I'm part of.
I write about things I care about, like any songwriter, whether it's a personal thing or not.
There's definitely a love-hate relationship I think a lot of bands have with touring.
I like talking about certain things, I like being vocal. But I couldn't see myself being full-fledged politician. I don't really see myself as the right person for that sort of thing. I think I would struggle in that line of work, but I definitely won't stop being vocal.
I think people definitely shouldn't be ignorant in regards to where they're playing. And there's an argument for not taking it out on citizens or music fans in a country. But at the same time, if a production or a show is supporting a dangerous and corrupt government, then I don't know, it's hard to find an argument to want to do that.
I was a happy child a lot of the time and my parents were always wanting to give me and my siblings the freedom to do what we wanted.
The first place I ever landed in America was Tampa.
I make songs based around my political ideas because they're a big part of life; politics affects my life, politics affects my friends and family's life.
It's a difficult thing, breaking in America. A lot of bands who've been massive in the U.K. for years take much longer than that to break America. It's a big country.
It would be unfair for me to be like, 'Yeah, I'm the voice of a generation.' I don't want that responsibility.
I'm the youngest of six kids so I got the short straw in terms of bedrooms.
I just want to pay off my family's mortgage.
There's only so much 'cool' you can try and pretend to be, before everyone realises you're not actually that cool.
We really are already seeing the impacts of climate change, of temperatures rising all around the world.
I just like a good pair of dungarees. It's comfortable, it's versatile, it looks good with anything. I'm a fan.