Yes! It was probably after I started my first band, and everyone else was taking it half-seriously, gravitating to other things as we finished high school, and I had no interest in doing anything other than music. Then when everyone was picking schools, I had no interest in going to college at all, but alas, I had to appease my parents, so I took a stab auditioning for music school, just the one, and ended up getting in! From that moment, I was set on becoming a professional musician in some capacity, whether it was through being a producer, songwriter or an all-inclusive artist. I ended up going big and choosing the latter.

Very DIY, I’d say. I funded the first record myself and recorded with a small studio in Boston called Mystic Valley Studio. Recorded it all via tape, and then the second one, I recorded myself working closely with Saguiv Rosenstock to finish it off.

Was the process of putting together ‘Class Of Cardinal Sin’ different? Not too different, I recorded everything myself then worked with a mixing engineer named Jake Cheriff to finish it off. So very similar to the previous record. This one’s got a bit of a concept to it, right? With... an evil school system? And dead characters? What’s going on??

So the topic of the record is all about my own upbringing and my experiences in high school as well as a heavy emphasis on home life during that period. The stories and premise of the school has been a concept in my head for a while - hence the mention of the fox dating all the way back to my first record - but the story itself with the evil school and dead characters took on a life of its own with this record and grew into a massive concept that is referenced on this record, but not all-inclusive if that makes sense.

You actually only get sent to the Cardinal Sin if you’re an inherently good soul that is scouted by either an alumnus of the school or a recruited “Cult” member living in the mortal realm. So if you’re already evil, they probably won’t have much use for you (their whole thing is converting good people into evil people) and would probably just look on at your evil ways in admiration. If you die, you’d just be sent to the death realm, not the Class of Cardinal Sin.

I get asked this question a lot! I used pieces of myself to write the background for each character, for example, Benjamin’s home life, Jamie’s love for animals, Alex’s sleep disorders, Penny dealing with cancer in the family. It was all taken from my own experiences or experiences of those who were extremely close to me, so it’s hard to pick one that I relate to most because the question essentially becomes “which experience in your life, most defines you”, of which anyone would have a hard time narrowing down to one. So to answer your question, they are all based on me, so I identify with them all!

Definitely. Vitality, although unsustainable, creates amazing opportunities, and those opportunities will become more apparent in the next few months. But yes, it’s definitely weird, haha. I am eager to get back to some good old fashioned live shows and touring, but even that, I will be documenting via TikTok, so it’s definitely changed my life in more ways than one. To be honest, I thought my career was going to take a giant nose dive and absolutely would have if I just went dark for a year and a half. I knew I had to try and do something to bridge the gap, and it was easily the best decision I could have made.

I just moved apartment. As restrictions are being lifted here, I am seeing more and more of my friends that I’ve missed throughout quarantine. I am extremely excited to be heading out on tour again in September with Summersalt and potentially heading on our first international tour in 2022 - no promises, but we are working towards it! P