East L.A. Born

02 / Know

Know the Story

After years of moving, Brisbane became home.

I was born in the East Los Angeles County area. I left L.A. when Sharna’s work visa expired and she asked me to return to Australia with her. After years of moving across Australia, Brisbane became the place where we finally made a home.

The soul don’t move—it just stays the same.

Where the story began

I was born at Beverly Hospital in Montebello, in the East Los Angeles County area. East L.A. is not borrowed scenery in this song. It is where I came from, where my family and values were formed, and where the rhythm in my music first took hold.

Then I met Sharna and fell in love. Her work visa was expiring and she had to go home to Australia. I had told her on more than one occasion that I would never move from L.A., but that was easy to say while leaving was still only an idea.

When the reality finally hit and Sharna was actually leaving, there was no way I was going to let her get away. She asked me, ‘Do you want to come with me?’ Well, you already know the answer.

That decision brought me to Australia, but the route to Brisbane was not direct. Sharna and I have moved 17 times and bought and sold seven homes. We lived across Australia, from Melbourne to Darwin and plenty of places in between. After that many moves, you can forget where you are going and lose your way trying to get there. Every new address starts feeling temporary.

Brisbane offered us something different. It was not simply another move. It gave us the opportunity to put our pot-bound roots into the ground somewhere we could finally call home.

That is the story behind the line I sing to Sharna in Electrifying Love: ‘There’s no way in hell we’re moving again.’ It is not a throwaway joke. It is the moment all those years of moving finally stop—the declaration that we had found the place where we could stay.

I have now lived nearly half my life in Australia with Sharna. I have never regretted the move, but not a day goes by that I do not think about the people I left behind. I brought the memories, the feelings and that same vato with me. He is still rolling—just on the other side of the road and the other side of the car.

03 / Feel

Feel the Soul

What I want you to feel

Leaving did not mean rejecting where I came from. I chose the person I loved, carried home with me and discovered that identity can cross an ocean without disappearing. The road changed sides; the soul stayed the same.