I started surfing at the age of 10, and then turned professional at the age of 16, which was right around the same time I took up the guitar. So, the surfing came first.

They say things happen for a reason You don't do them, they won't.

[Jack Johnson]gave me my whole start in music, which was the coolest thing ever.

Through my surfing, I met all my friends that helped me out in the music world, and so that's kind of how it all began. So, it was the surfing and then the music.

Before I actually got a hard surfboard at the age of 10, like a real board, I was always just trying to stand up on boogie boards or rafts or whatever I had, trying to emulate the people that I saw surfing the waves out there.

I travel a lot, and being in different countries and a part of cultures, that's just such a huge inspiration for music, and one way or another, you get influenced.

That was like the best start I could've had, the best way I could've started in the music scene. I owe [Jack Johnson] a lot for the beginning of my career and setting me off on the right path, and that's the coolest thing that ever could've happened.