What’s the best piece of advice you have ever received? I don’t want to be name-droppy, but this advice definitely came at a time in my life where I really needed to hear it. In 2013, when I was on tour with Nick Cave, I was having a problem with my partner at the time. Our biggest fights always broke out when I would go on tour, because he felt like I was choosing my career over having a relationship.
So I asked Nick: “I’m sure you and Susie have a lot of fights about how often you can tour. What kind of work do you do to find the balance?” And he said: “Well, Susie and I fight, but never about my job. That’s my work.
That’s everything to me. And she knows that, so we don’t fight about it.” Related: From gay clubs to Maga anthem: the absurd, contested history of the Village People’s YMCA My mind was blown.
I knew this is something that I need in my life. So when I came back from that tour, I started making big changes. What’s been your most memorable interaction with a fan? There was a woman named Ariel who was very sick.
She had a lot of breathing issues and was waiting for a lung transplant. She came to multiple shows and befriended me and my bandmates. I remember we were in Charlottesville, Virginia, and I saw her in the street with a friend.
They were in tears, telling me how much our music meant to them, and how it helped Ariel through all her hospital stays and every time she had to do her breathing exercises. Her parents would help her come to .