Latest / KIIS Breakfast / 🎶 Alex Warren reveals what inspires his music...

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🎶 Alex Warren reveals what inspires his music... · KIIS Breakfast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Alex Warren, hello. Welcome to Australia. Well, welcome back to Australia.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
• 0:04
  Speaker 3: And you love it here. Have we got a special
• 0:07
  Speaker 3: place in your heart? 17 weeks, number one for Ordinary.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: I think regardless of the charts, Australia's always just been
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: the place. Growing up in a surf city, this was
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: always somewhere I wanted to go. I say this in
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: almost every interview. I used to put on an Australian
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: accent everywhere I went growing up.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Can I hear it?
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: I used to tell everyone I was from Perth, and
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: it was like a whole thing, and no, and all
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: this stuff.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: It's actually really good.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: It's not bad, but it teeters on English sometimes.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, if it keeps going for a while.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if it keeps going.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: How did you perfect that? Do you know many Australians?
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: I would literally, yeah, I grew up with a lot
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: of Australians and surfing, so that was the biggest thing
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: for us. I don't know why so many were in
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: San Diego, but I have a lot of history with Australians.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: And have you surfed here or not?
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: No, I will be this week, which I'm very stoked for. Before,
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: I was only here for such a limited time, and
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: it was a flight every single day. We played one show,
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: a flight, one show, a flight. And now I'm here
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: for six days straight. So I'm really excited to actually start.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: I'm doing a bunch of wave pool sessions.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Right, okay.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: And is there anything apart from that that you're really
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: looking forward to doing in Australia then?
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: There's some spots. I'm really good friends with Rob Irwin.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: And so Rob and I are going to do some
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: stuff together, which I'm really excited to see him. He's
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: just the sweetest man in the world.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: You're not afraid of the animals? No. Does he bring
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: a python around with him or anything like that?
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: It's so nice to watch. And I'm just going to
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: give my friend some glory here. Rob is such a,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: very much like his dad, or at least what I've
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: been able to see on the internet and growing up
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: with that series, but also on top of it, just
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: he's so caring of these animals that like, I remember
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: we did something together with an alligator. And he's, oh,
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: look right here. And he's like showing me everything about
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: the alligator. And I was like, dude, I selfishly love
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: to watch him do what he does so well.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: That's good to know that you'll be hanging around him.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: So Ordinary, though, 17 weeks, number one.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: You've got an album that is coming out today, Wild Child.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: And now... That is because your dad used to call
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: you a wild child.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Is that right? Yeah, my dad used to call me
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: a wild child. Whenever he would look for me, I
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: was either on a rooftop jumping off of it or
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: trying to do flips off a lifeguard tower. I was
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: always on something and doing flips off of it. I
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: was like Benson Boone before he was conceived.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: You were a naughty boy then.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: And so I was always causing a ruckus for sure.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: And then I hear that there is like a voicemail
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: from your dad that.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Is on the album.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: My dad's a huge part of the album, actually. So
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: he's actually credited a good amount on this thing. So
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: my dad's favorite musician was John Mayer. Okay. Literally, like
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: this was his dream. He loved John so much. And
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: I put John and my dad on the same song together. Wow.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Because I thought that that was so special.
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: Was that hard to do? You obviously have kept voicemails
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: from your dad then.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: I think it was really healing to be able to
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: kind of take something that you can't control, like cancer
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: and loss, and be able to kind of put your
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: own beautiful spin on it is what I think will
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: live forever. This song will be forever. People will be
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: able to listen to this when I die. And I
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: think that that's something so powerful that this will be
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: a part of my kids' lives and things like that.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: And I can't really ask for more.
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: And then a lot of people might not know, you know,
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: you were homeless for a while there. Is it true
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: you were eating, like, leftovers from the restaurant that you
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: were working at?
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and my wife got so mad at me when
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: she found out, which rightfully so.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: But you've got to wait, right?
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Well, we, and I love that I'm friends with the
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: owner of the restaurant, and I hope he doesn't see this, but.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: When people wouldn't finish their food, I would cut off
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: the ends and take it to go and bring it
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: back to my wife so we could eat because I
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: couldn't afford money.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Sorry, I couldn't afford food.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: She didn't know that until I told her. She was like,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: how are you– these burritos are like $ 17. How are
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: you buying this if we can't even afford a place
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: to stay? And I told her and she was like,
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: so you are not doing that anymore. So I would
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: do it and then I would buy her a burrito
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: and bring it to her.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Right. But it was always cut off.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: So you weren't eating anyone's– I feel like it's fine.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Well, otherwise it was going to go in the bin,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: wasn't it?
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Right. I couldn't waste food while I couldn't afford it.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: And talking of your wife, she's here in Australia with you.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah. She comes everywhere with me.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Because you guys have been together a long time now.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: You're childhood sweethearts, would you say? Yeah.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: When we were 18, we met.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: On Snapchat, right?
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Would you advise anyone who's single to pick up on Snapchat?
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: I mean, it works for you.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: I think that I got really lucky. I got really
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: lucky at the time.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Do you remember how you did it? Like what happened?
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: My friend moved to Hawaii and they were staying together
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: and I had texted this friend and been like, wow,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: this girl is the most beautiful person I've ever seen
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: in my life. And it was a photo of my
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: wife sleeping. And the fact that I like, she was like,
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: that's funny because my wife thinks that's the most horrible
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: picture of her ever.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: A lot of women don't like the photo.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: But I thought it was the most beautiful picture ever
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: I've ever seen. So we started talking because I slid
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: up on it. It's like sliding into someone's dance. Yeah.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and then it went from there.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and now she's my wife and we've been together
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: for eight years.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: And Ordinary is all about her, yeah?
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: All my songs that are love songs are about her.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: I have plenty of them.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: All of them? Okay, yeah.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Everything I've ever written is either about my dad, parents,
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: or my wife.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Oh, okay.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: I'm a two-trick pony, man.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: How much has your life changed since something like Ordinary
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: came out then?
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: Oh my God, exponentially. I truly think that you know,
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: where I am today and the rooms that I'm playing
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: and any chances of charting on any of my music
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: is because of that one song. And I think that's
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: what it takes nowadays. You need one song or something.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: And then it goes off, yeah.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: I think so. And I think obviously you need a
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: great discography. I think a lot of my records after
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: started doing really well because people found me from that
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: one song. So it's crazy for any musicians out there too.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: I just feel like it can happen to anyone.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: And talking of tonight, concert, and you're going to stream
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: it live on TikTok.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So does that mean anyone that had tickets, they
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: don't need to come now? They can just sit at
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: home with their phone?
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess so. I don't know how much of
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: an experience that would be, but I think you could.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: I think it's more for the people who, I think
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: this album is a huge deal for me, and I
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: also think it's a huge deal for everyone who is
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: interested in it, obviously, and to be able to come
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: to my show, which right now seems almost impossible with
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: it selling out, which is such a great problem, obviously.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: But for people to be able to watch it who
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: aren't able to make it, it would make me really
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: happy for them to see it, so I'm streaming it.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: How do you feel when people are holding up their
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: phones during your concerts? Does it bother you? Are you like,
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: can you just pay attention and watch?
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: I think there's a moment during the show where I
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: ask them to put them down, but I think that's
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: more just to be able to be in the moment
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: with everyone around them. I actually don't mind it. I
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: think that obviously having it up the entire show is
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: one thing, but most people are pretty like, oh, my
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: favorite song, let me get this moment. And I think, again,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: in today's concert world where you can't, not everyone can
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: afford to go to a show, I think it's really
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: cool that someone's able to film that experience for maybe like,
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: Like I have an aunt who is in Mexico who
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: can't really come to the States or can't go to
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: a lot of places. And to be able to film
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: a concert of her favorite artists and be able to
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: send her that footage is really something special. So I
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: like put myself in their shoes.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Well, tonight they're going to be able to watch if
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: they're not there. What about you?
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: I mean, you got a big start from social media.
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: How are you with keeping off your phone? Are you,
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: you know, in between these interviews here, are you going
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: to jump on there? Is your screen time really bad
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: or have you got some boundaries?
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: When I'm not on tour, I throw my phone away.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: You throw it away. Like I don't go on it.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: Like I literally chuck it on my couch and I don't,
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: I don't go back to it for like a week, um,
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: which drives my team crazy.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: They can't reach you.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: Well, all I do is just go surf. Like I literally,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: that's all I do. Um, but yeah, no, I think
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: that on tour it's so easy to pick up and
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: you have so much hurry up and wait. And I
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: think people realize how much waiting there is until the show.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: And So we try to fill our time with surfing
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: or going to go see landmarks or zoos and stuff
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: like that. And so, yeah, I do catch myself going
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: on it a lot.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's hard to beat that addiction, isn't it? I know.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Well, it's not. I can throw it away when I'm
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: not on tour.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Alex Warren, mate, thank you so much.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Enjoy your time in Australia.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: And thank you for coming here.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much, man. I appreciate you.