I grew up…in Manhattan on 76th street between 2nd and 3rd avenues. After College I moved to Mercer Street and now I live in Washington Heights.

It all started when…my Mom put me in a music class when I was 2 years old. The teacher called my Mom one day and told her that I was beating the drums and had rhythm. Then a little later on in junior high school, I was in a gospel choir at the Professional Performing Arts School and that really helped to put me on a certain musical path.

If I’m not playing music you’ll find me…watching boxing, NY Knicks basketball, tennis, biking in the streets of NY.

I can’t perform unless I have…all of my equipment and the rest of my band? I can perform wherever, whenever. I don’t need any special circumstances really.

My three dream festival headliners would be…Wu-Tang Clan circa. 1996, Bob Dylan circa. 1976 and Fela Kuti circa. 1975.

You’ll always see me wearing…stripes. I have a lot of striped shirts. And pants. But not with stripes. I don’t wear shorts ever.

I wish I hadn’t…I guess there are some things I have said in my life that I wish I hadn’t said because they weren’t nice. But these things help make us better people because we think about them and feel bad and try to not say things like that again.

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt it’s…to ask questions. To put a lot of thought into almost everything.

Give me 10 minutes and I’ll cook a great…I don’t really cook anything. Oops. My girlfriend cooks for me sometimes. I think the only thing I can make is eggs. Sorry!

Buy me a drink and I’ll…buy you one. It’s the least I can do. If I drink more than 5 drinks though I might start saying things out loud that I shouldn’t.

I’m not really into anti-folk, but I do like Jeffrey Lewis. His lyrics are really great and when he performs live he has these huge comic books that he ‘performs’.

My favourite food is…I like all kinds of food. As long as it’s very good. I think I might be a “foodie.” When you grow up in NYC it just kind of happens.

My favourite smell is…a basketball. I don’t know why. I like how they smell. I also like the way the booklet inside a CD smells when you first open it up after buying it.

My next release will be…Golden Train. Out November 22. It’s a disco, pop, electronic sort of Michael Jackson meets Hot Chip kind of song I made with Alex from Holy Ghost!

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Penguin Prison – Golden Train

Penguin Prison – Golden Train (Royal Palms Remix)