My intentions with any of my music is to keep it futuristic and updated and be experimental and try new things.

Drums, bass, guitar, keys, I play a little of each of those.

I shopped at J. Crew in high school, I studied computer science. I was a nerd-nerd, now I'm a music-nerd.

I've always made sure that I tour with bands that people aren't expecting me to tour with.

I grew up in Ann Arbor, about 25 miles west of Detroit. And when you grow up in that area, you get a healthy dose of Motown automatically.

Having stuff that fits you perfectly makes the craziest difference. I remember the first times that I was introduced to that - having a shirt that's actually tailored to your body and not just made for your average American. It just changes your life.

I think that what happens is that all of my modern influences blend together with the older soul influences and you get Mayer Hawthorne.