“Playing music definitely [stops time]. Whenever I [play], even if I’m tired or sad or anything — I’m okay doing that all the time. [I started playing] guitar in fifth grade. I just thought it was really cool. I was inspired by Back to The Future. There was a guy and he was playing Chuck Berry guitar. That’s what I was inspired by. I like playing whenever no matter what, but I definitely enjoy playing with other people. When I’m playing with other people, I can be inspired from them and learn from them creatively. Versus when I’m just by myself, I’m just working on my own music. I’m not feeding off of other people ideas. Right now I’ve been listening to a lot of Grant Green. He’s a jazz guitarist. I’m planning on majoring in jazz in college. I just finished applying everywhere and now I have to do auditions in February. I work with Emily Tschirhart a lot.She’s in [my band] Rosewood. [Rosewood] started my freshman year, so around 2014. Clarence was like, ‘Let’s make a band!’ We went to play for Live on Washington, a bunch of Neutral Zone stuff, and we won Battle of the Bands. I couldn’t imagine my life without music. I don’t know what I would be doing without it.”