Mexico City
“I go here just to feel that I’m alive. It’s a bolt of inspiration and energy; walking around, you feel the city’s deep culture and rich history. I get the sense that I’m in Paris in the 1920s, New York in the 1970s, in Barcelona with Dalí – it’s a mish-mash of everything. You’re looking at a brutalist building next to a Renaissance one next to a modernist one. Yola Jimenez, my partner in our drinks brand Yola Mezcal, lives there – and it’s where I’ve found some of my favourite restaurants in the world, especially Contramar. It’s a five-hour lunch with lots of mezcal.”
The Apollo Theatre, New York City
“This Harlem spot is one of my favourite venues to play – again, you sense the legacy. The stage has been graced by such talent so it’s a blessing to be up there. I lived in Bushwick when I was 19, playing open-mic nights, so anytime I play in New York at a real venue, I can feel my own evolution. My other favourite venue is The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever – there’s something about a church that has the best acoustics. You feel like opening your mouth and listening to the natural reverb. Playing there is a very celestial experience.” apollotheater.org
Ett Hem, Stockholm
“My favourite hotel in the world is full of Scandinavian furniture, the attention to detail is perfect and it’s so cosy. In fact, I love it so much that I based the interiors for my place in Stockholm on it. I kind of hated the city in my teenage years and did everything I could to get away. And then after a good decade and a half living in America, with the political upheaval and the world in general going up in flames, suddenly you realise what a sensible place Stockholm is. Maybe I’m growing old, but now it’s the city I love most.” etthem.se
Rudolph Schindler Architecture, Los Angeles
“You know what I like more than going to galleries? Walking around in places with interesting architecture. LA has a lot of really beautiful buildings. Our Yola Mezcal co-founder, Gina Correll Aglietti, lives in one of the first Schindler houses in LA, and whenever I pull up there, I’m overwhelmed. The way that he plays with light. I struggle a lot with sleep and I’ve been talking to a lot of sleep doctors, and even sleep is about light – melatonin and serotonin and how your brain reacts. To me, life in general is all about light and shadows.”
Brutalisten, Stockholm
“This is a ‘brutalist’ restaurant that the artist Carsten Höller opened in Stockholm, and it’s my new favourite. The whole idea is that they use the most minimal ingredients, with nothing extra added, just cured or cooked in a certain, simple way. It’s really interesting, and it lets the ingredients speak. Then his girlfriend, Kajsa Leander, has created these really strong, cold-pressed... It sounds boring to call them juices, but brutalist drinks you can have instead of wine, like cloudberry juice. It’s incredible.” brutalisten.com