q: why did you decide to move back to nyc? what’s your favorite part of nyc?

a: i moved back to nyc to start two new things. photography and a solo music project. going solo baby. my favorite thing about nyc is that it’s a beach town..

q: you describe yourself as having an “immutable thirst to get shit done.” where does that drive
come from?

a: life is all about feeding the artistic spirit, and you gotta do what you gotta do so that it can support you. keeping the spirit alive like a pet dog. there are a few people i’ve had the pleasure of spending time with who live very much in that pocket and I’m always inspired to make all these little clay sculptures afterward and scream to god, you know. “i exist!:” it’s all we can do before we die. children are kind of the same. little sculptures of the earth we make so we can scream that we exist and it’s really beautiful. i don’t want children right now, so making other stuff works just as well..

q: you’re currently writing your first short film set in paris and centered around a cup. why a cup?

a: yes. last time i was in paris, i was with a friend who was also visiting, and we were carrying around a cute little glass cup with some cartoon zoo animal on it. it belonged to his ex girlfriend, and the reason he was carrying it around was to drink wine by the river. he was also staying at his ex girlfriend’s (and her new boyfriend’s) apartment during his stay because they remain close friends. I thought that was cute.

q: you’re working across photography, a new solo project and your first short film. what do you
want to make that you haven’t figured out how to make yet?

a: more imminent than all of those things is a documentary i’ll be shooting in japan during the month of october. i’ve never shot anything so much as a full-on documentary. it’s more of a mini doc with the spirit of a full doc. i’d love to figure out how to make one of those while i’m doing it. but if you’re asking about the next medium to conquer, i don’t know. i have endless amounts of work and learning ahead with what’s already on my plate.

q: are there any constant sources of inspiration for you? what is your latest inspiration?

a: man i’m inspired by the physical things. touching skin, touching paper, knowing something exists in the physical realm. seeing a photo that implies the object exists. i also love starting new things. maybe too often. i never get the last thing done. my latest inspiration is a playlist my
friend oscar made for me after talking with me about music for hours. i needed that because music’s taken a backseat lately and that fact has been making me worried. but he made me a beautiful playlist of a lot of music i’d never heard before, and he named it “there’s always a way back” and i thought that was really sweet and thoughtful. i had a great time talking to him. i’m also really inspired by this artist threshhold in new york. i think his project is really beautiful in both song craftsmanship as well as visual worldbuilding..

q: what were you first drawn toward- photography or music?

a: music.

q: has returning to new york changed the music you want to make?

a: definitely. that and a mix of having been in a band and not being in a band anymore. i do get the longing to rock heavy with the fellas every now and then. especially after seeing really great
rock bands in nyc. i don’t think I’ll ever stop the rock and roll, but I’m more inclined to make more beautiful sounding things right now than that hard and fast shit I was on before. don’t get me wrong, love that and will never stop. but i’m interested in having a softer approach at the moment.

q: how has your time with nitefire (your previous band) shaped the way you’re approaching your
solo project?

a: it taught me what i don’t want from myself as far as writing goes. but more importantly, it taught me that friendship is forever.

q: what are you trying to figure out through the new music?

a: i’m not sure I have something to solve, but the way i think about music has been a really nice guide for how I think about general growth - aging, desires, needs, and all those changes that come every year older, priorities. what’s important what’s not. music has been a piece of paper i can map myself onto. spill it all out to organize and see what my insides look like. i guess i find myself surprised sometimes by what I see.

q: what/ who are you listenening to right now?

a: threshold like i mentioned previously. radiohead b siders. gustavo cerati. i just saw operelly opening for bar italia recently. i had never heard of them prior. they blew me away. it was
incredible. and their singer is such a good singer. i’m also really inspired by the frontmanship of the bar italia and voyeur singers. both those bands are so good at what they do. i’ve been
listening to them as well. there’s this artist fine from oscar’s playlist who i’ve really come to love in the last week. their album rocky top ballads is really lush and sweet. scarlett rae is a friend whose music hits me really hard. she has the most beautiful voice. american analog set also been a big one for me.

q: where does your photography live outside of the darkroom?

a: on my hip, on walls, and in gift bags.

q: has being a musician changed the way you photograph people?

a: i don’t know. i would need someone to tell me if this is true or not.

q: which photographers have shaped the way you see?

a: chris llerins, blake doyle, emily lipson, juergen teller, wolfgang tillmans

q: is there a filmmaker you always come back to?

a: not really! a close and intimate friend of mine is the real cinephile between the two of us. sometimes i get lucky to catch a movie I’d never heard of beside her. it’s those films that mean the most to me.

q: woodworking is one of your hobbies. what was the last thing you built?

a: the last thing i built was a bench with inlaid mosaic on three sides. It was an anniversary gift. i’d never done mosaic in wood before. i grew up in a small cabinet company family. i attribute my love of physical materials to those early lessons in creativity. i prefer analog photography. i
prefer hardware to software when it comes to music. i prefer to work with my hands in anything i do. i have a complete aversion to software. my friend jason will say it’s because i’m lazy and i don’t like reading manuals. he might be right. but i’ve had too many good experiences in taking the easy route. you learn a lot of new and interesting ways to use a tool if you insist on not using it correctly. If that’s lazy, fine.

q: between photography, music, film and woodworking, what are you obsessed with outside of
your work right now?

a: i’m obsessed with getting my nolita apartment to look like an actual home at some point. i’ve been working too much and my new apartment has been suffering. it’s making me crazy.

q: how does jewelry fit into your world?

a: i’ve never been much of a jewelry guy. i like to keep things pretty minimal and simple, and if I do wear a piece, the only way I’ll feel comfortable enough to wear it is if in its first few months, i create some nice memories to attach to them. if they are in pictures. if they are symbols of an
era of my life, then I’ll stick to it. if they were given to me by my mother, bought with a lover, or made by my sister, that’s something I’ll feel close to. there are many other scenarios, but those are some that have stuck with me.

q: you count doing your hair among your hobbies. what’s your relationship with your hair?

a: bad hair day fucks with me the whole day. mood goes sour. hair is everything. i think i learned that from rock and roll.

q: your favorite food is spaghetti bolognese, which you’ve been known to pair with a glass of milk.
defend yourself.

a: ha! milk perfectly cuts the acidity of the tomato. milk is round. bolognese can be sharp. that’s why people use sugar and a small bit of chocolate to cut it. it’s the same as putting cheese on your bolognese, just cutting out the middleman. i also like cheese. it needs to be cut. it’s also a gluttony thing. i want to feel full. i want to know the milk is filling every empty space that the pasta in my stomach hasn’t. i want to be dense. no air bubbles, just a solid mass..

q: you love splitting a bottle of red in the middle of a weekday. what’s ur go-to red?

a: to be honest, it doesn’t matter to me. as long as it’s natural and not too cheap, I’m open to anything. i’ll still drink the cheap stuff. it’s really not about the wine now is it?