If I do go to the beach there have to be certain rules: it can't be a pebbly beach, there has to be some shade and there has to be a beach bar. I don't want to go off the beaten track.
Building a little bonfire at night on the beach and lying on a blanket with my wife under the stars is not only sexy, it's romantic.
To me, Miami is like Hell and I'm Osiris when it comes to music - I'm underrated and I came through with this rare sound. "East" means east of Miami, which is South Beach. So I'm the "Osiris of the East", I became my own god in music, and I took over South Beach.
My parents were opera singers. I didn't want to play opera because I wasn't good enough. I didn't want to play their music; I wanted to play the music that I wanted to play, and I'm so lucky that today I get to play that music, even though I don't like every song I write.
I don't go to the beach. There is no value in going to the beach. If I did go I would probably read economics books.
We'd get right up and go straight to the beach for practice. Afterward, we'd leave on our wringing, dirty clothes and jump in the ocean. Then we'd leave them drying on the beach. That was our laundry break. Then, we'd play all afternoon.
The great thing about the Island is you've got room. You can go for a bike ride. We're 20 minutes to a beach, and you can get on the beach and go for a long walk.
I'm really not one of those deejays who go, 'I play music that I like.' I play it for the crowd. I believe that's what a deejay should do.
The music that I play is much more accepted in America. Do you know what I mean? Americans recognize and not necessarily country music. I go to a lot of places in Canada and they go "I don't like country music" and they think I'm a country musician. When I am a country musician but not a country musician like they think of.
Go-go is so drum and Congo based. It's almost like music from Africa. The drums like on 'Planet Paradise' are deeply African-rooted. It's really bouncy and the same speed as go-go music. That's an example of the influence go-go had on me.
The social scene in Daytona Beach was simple. The white cats surf, and the blacks play music.
It is just so cool to play on the beach right next to the water. I am deeply moved by water as I think most people are - so to play music with it is a most powerful experience.
You know that one don't play music just for the hours to pass. But you play music because you are in love with music and luckily if it happens that people like what I'm proposing, then I'm happy. Although music is business, yet you don't start thinking about money from the initial stages when you are in music. First propose to the people what they want and if they like it, then the money comes later.
I like playing at public schools. I like when there's more of a diverse audience. I'll play wherever people want to hear my music, and I'll be glad and grateful for the opportunity, but I'd rather not play for a bunch of white privileged kids. I'm not meaning that in a disrespectful way; you go where people want to hear your music. So if that's where people want to hear me play, I'm glad to play for them. But I'd rather play for an audience where half of them were not into it than one where all of them were pretending to be into it, for fear of being uncultured.
I love being on the beach - it's my favourite place. I can chill out, read, listen to music, play with my daughter.
Being with my wife and children in Kauai, seeing old friends there, being on the beach, painting, paddleboarding. Sitting under a Kauai moon with a bonfire going, buddies around. Those are the things that kind of make my world turn.