How’s the tour going?
It’s been really good. It’s progressively getting better which is something that’s really exciting and the shows are always sold out, so I’m able to play for new listeners every night. Not just new listeners, but listeners that like my kind of music because Owl city’s and my music is very similar so the audience is willing to hear something that I’ve put out.

How do you spend your down time while on tour?
Down time is one of those things that is few and far between but when I do actually get down time -like a bit of time in the bathroom before I go on- I usually like to escape in the World of Warcraft, online gaming, DS or just play my guitar. I love to sit there with my guitar and just pour my thoughts out because when I do get downtime, I like to do things that I can’t do when people are around like play my keyboard. Lately I’ve really been into playing crossword because it improves my vocabulary which is really crucial as a songwriter.

Are you also a sudoku fan?
I am! On the new blackberry, I get Sudoku which rules!

A lot of your videos deal with animation how would you describe your connection with the animated world?
I would describe it as a teen romance because I enjoy dabbling in that world. It’s such a passion of mine, I love comics, I love cartoons, I love everything superhero and sci-fi oriented and I always try to implement that into my work. I’ve taken it to the extreme now with my web series “Audio Quest” and Captain Lights adventures. I was working with Tom Stoker from Marvel Comics and we basically collaborated on 2 minute animated comic episodes, which was a dream come true for me.

Being such a young artist and rising to notoriety in Canada so quickly, do you ever feel overwhelmed?
It’s taken its time to a certain degree that it allows me to build myself at each level. I put my music out about 4 years ago, the music that I have now and as it may appear, I’ve gotten up there quickly but it’s actually been quite a while so it’s given me time to adjust in my own way. I started doing live shows about 3 years ago, so I’ve had time to adjust in that way and that was before tons of people started coming out to the shows. It’s really progressed in a smart, slow incline so it actually feels awesome; I don’t feel overwhelmed at all. There’s obviously days you will get overwhelmed but that’s life, you can get overwhelmed with anything.

Do you ever feel pressure from your fans or the industry to change your style that you’ve been so comfortable with for years?
To be honest no. I’ve never ever felt pressured to be anyone other than me more, you know? And that’s the beauty of the way the industry is going now and that people can create themselves before they even get involved with a label or anything like that. I had my stuff out there in the way that it was before I ever got signed and so when I was drumming up interest and labels started getting interested, I could call the shots in the way that I was because I was already there. So it would be denying the person they took interest in if they asked me to change. It’s wonderful and I’ve never felt pressure to be anyone else.

Although you’re so busy, why is it so important for you to conduct your videoblogs on the frequent basis that you do?
It’s important to let people in on where your ideas come from and where you are as an artist and a person. One of the things that’s important to me is being able to be stupid and be foolish sometimes because then you don’t take yourself too seriously and become afraid of showing people who you really are. You’re going to be trapped as an artist and to me, just to let that out helps me a lot.

If you weren’t creating music, what would be your ideal profession?
It would definitely have something to do with animation or game design or even what I initially wanted to be, an astronaut. The bizarre thing is that every dream job that I had except for music, I’m able to implement into my music and videos which is awesome.

Tour food, what do you like to eat while you’re on tour?
It’s definitely hard to maintain a healthy diet while you’re on the road, when the only places you can really get to are gas stations and fast food places, but I’ve kind of mastered the art of it. I can find something healthy wherever I go. One of my favourite things is when I can find yogurt or a yogurt parfait somewhere, I’m a huge fan of yogurt, I love it, so yea yogurt, salad and a bag of beef jerky is my daily diet and lots of water.

Let’s talk about your album, “The Listening” what was your favourite song to create?
It’s hard to say because the listening is essentially the best songs I’ve written over the course of four years, so the ones you’re hearing are my favourites of the hundreds of songs I’ve written during that time. It’s hard to narrow it down but there are some that I like a bit more than others. I think one of my favourites is called “Quiet” because it has such a groove to it and it’s really fun to play.

What instruments did you use in it?
I used a vintage rose organ and I actually played a banjo in it, so I tried a few different things and it’s just a really chill song. It took on a different format than the others, there’s no bridge in it, just verse-chorus-verse, it was a nice little change for me and it’s one of my favourite tracks on the record.

What do you think will be next for you?
Definitely lots of touring, the record is relatively fresh so hopefully lots of touring off of that and I have big hopes to take it overseas. We’ll be over there a lot this year especially in the UK and Europe. I’m always working on new stuff. I’m also hoping to expand Captain Lights and the animated web-isodes into a hardcopy comic or doing more episodes or something.

What’s on your Ipod right now?
Right now I’ve been listening a lot to Bonnie day, The New, Joshua tree of U2 has made a re-uprising in my life and Cradle.