When I got started in New York, it wasn't like it is now. If you were different from Miles and Dizzy, it was very difficult to make gigs and make money with your own style.
I've got about 27 gigs right now. I've got radio, I've got television, I've got The Washington Post.
Doing gigs is great, but when you come together for a production in the theatre, that is something I have a lot of respect for.
After 'Rock Star,' I was definitely doing more high profile gigs. I was playing in Iceland. I was playing in Canada.
I saw Damien Rice in Dublin when I was 13, and that inspired me to want to pursue being a songwriter... I practised relentlessly and started recording my own EPs. At 16, I moved to London and played any gigs I could, selling CDs from my rucksack to fund recording the next, and it snowballed from there.