MO from page I felt embarassed or shy about playing a particular song. As time passes it gets more comfortable. Ironically, with those specific songs people’s reactions are, “Wow, you should play those more often”. Q: Do you worry about the audience’s reaction? A: Sometimes. I have a song about child abuse. It’s called “Young Child’s Story” and it was extremely hard to play. I wasn’t sure how the audience would feel, if it would be triggering for some, or others would block it out, or people didn’t want to hear about it. But I play it more often now. It will be on my first album. Q: Would you like to perform for larger, more mainstream audiences? A: Yes. I’m trying to be diverse. I want my music to be accessible to lots of differ- ent people, anyone and everyone. There are definitely specific songs endearing to cer- tain groups. But for what I want to do, whichis to be heard, share mymusic, Iwant to be accessible to large groups of people. Q: Is it harder to play for the larger, more diverse audiences? A: No. Growing up playing music I was playing for myself. I wrote songs for myself, to get through stuff, sort of like music therapy. Different people heard it and liked what they heard. I still write for :6 myself, although now I take into considera- tion what’s more listenable for the audi- ence. My only struggle with this is that I feel like I need more diverse songs which I’m working towards and have been com- ing out with. Q: Is there a message that you’d like to convey through your music? A: The primary experience thatl want to have and want to encourage the audience to have is just a connection- a connection between what I’m putting out, the music, the sounds they’re hearing and the feelings DEst