It would be arrogant to come to music only thinking about success.
— Tash Sultana
I love San Francisco for the music culture. There's this vibe there that I can't find anywhere else in the world. Easily one of the best places on the sea coast.
Being able to play all over the world to different audiences and have them sing my lyrics back to me, even if they can't speak the same language, is crazy.
I've got to deal with some stuff in my mind that's pretty scary.
I think when you have one song that does really well, people love you from that song, or they hate you from that song.
That's pretty much all I do - skate, surf, and jam.
I've got an awesome career happening, and I absolutely am so stoked with how it's all worked out.
My goal is to just be able to play as many instruments as I possibly can.
I'm just all for equal rights and stuff like that, but I'm not like one of those 'Yay empowerment' type of people.
You only have one thing in your mind, and that is your mind; once that's gone, your whole reality is distorted.
I chose busking because I didn't want to be working for someone else. I wanted to work as I am. I feel like you ultimately do have a choice if you have your vision. So, I had a vision forever that I was going to play music. And there was no stopping that.
I wrote 'Jungle' in my bedroom when I was having a manic time with a particular girl. Everyone thinks it's this really upbeat song, but it's not; it was just a really manic time, so I wrote a song about it.
I kind of just got right into playing music because I could kind of stop thinking when I was concentrating on playing the guitar.
I started getting RSI in my wrists and my elbow from playing really hard, so I started looping.
I have learnt my boundaries and what I need to do to preserve my energy and not give out too much of myself every night.
I can live on the road, no worries, because my life is scheduled, but when I come home to myself, that's what I'm worried about, finding the balance.
I've played music that's terrible in the past, and not everyone likes you, which is fine.
You can impact on people with music, and I love that because music impacts on me.
I always play barefoot. I can't play with shoes on.
A lot of marathon runners access flow state. That's why it's so addictive: because they just get into this state where they're just completely one - they are in complete oneness. That's what happens to me when I play music and, I suppose, a lot of other people, too, which is why we do it.
Pretty much everybody loves music. Like, there are those weird people that don't like music, and I don't really understand that at all, to be honest.
I have a little pocket journal. I just put the pen on the paper and just go.
I don't busk any more because it's gotten too dangerous.
I learnt everything to do with music in my own time.
I've got a lot of pedals and a lot of knobs that need to be switching around during my performance, so I've taught my toes how to do that.
I'm not a feminist.
I'm not that cool or anything.
I reckon I'd be probably, like, in the gutter somewhere if I didn't have music.
Music is multi-dimensional: it's all in the feeling. Sometimes I feel like looping; sometimes I don't. Sometimes I want to strip it back, play instruments I've never played before.
I just have this real love and connection with what I'm doing when I play music.
I never necessarily played the music I listen to. I've always liked a lot of soul, roots-reggae, alternative psych-rock, and I feel like, with age, that's kind of come.
I find it hard to settle into a normal, routine environment.
I construct myself and do things how I want to do them, because your artistry is a very precious thing - it's ultimately your whole life if you want it to be.
Music is the embodiment of my soul. When I play, I'm not performing a song: I'm becoming it.
I love Erykah Badu. Every time I listen to her music, I'm, like, laying out all the instruments in the song, like, how I would loop it.
'Free Mind' was a song written over a couple of years. It was pretty much three different songs that I couldn't figure out how to put together - until one day, when I was in the studio, it kind of just fell into place.
I've been living a healthier life and, therefore, writing healthier music.
I'm actually a massive dork; people just don't know that.
If you get the chance to be a Bourke Street busker, you actually have to do an audition in front of a council panel. You get a roster every week that has your busking shifts on it - I'm serious: it's an actual job.
I love the fact that there are so many people who have come to appreciate what I'm doing. That is just the best feeling in the world.
I'm not a really super-political type of person, and that might change as I get older.
If I'm in a good headspace, then it doesn't matter which direction things go.
Music draws me in. As soon as I hear it, I'm there. I'm stuck in it.
I am not a genre-based artist.
I don't really have music goals. It's just a huge field I want to dedicate my life to.
My mum pushed me to get a normal job when I finished school, and I just wasn't into that at all. So I hit the street and started busking and making my own way.
I take alone time when I can.
Music saved me from a really dark road.
It's like being in a trance, like I get this electric current through my fingertips. Sometimes I shake. People say I look like Hendrix when I'm about to rip a solo because I move my shoulders like he does and do the chewing.
