Alyssa Acevedo interviews Griffin Birkinbine
Friday, April 10th, 2026
A: What is your favorite thing about being creative, being a musical artist?
G: There’s a lot of things I like but one thing that I’ve always just kind of really appreciated about it, is just being, making creative stuff in general, like the community that it can build. Because like I don’t know, there’s just like, there’s like a bond that happens with artists and the people that come see us and it’s just really nice to have even if it’s only like 5 people who show up. Yeah, it’s intimate and it’s nice and like you can really like kind of like communicate what you’re trying to say about what you’ve created to those people. And then, it’s just like yeah I would say just from my experience, I really, really like how it kind of brings people together.
A: Do you think music is going to continue to be more of like a hobby or is this something that you think you’ll really pursue?
G: I’ve actually been dealing with kind of like being like I want to pursue this but also I kind of want to keep it as a hobby and I mean, I’m in college and so I’m starting Environmental Science and I’m not completely sure where I want to go with that but I’ve decided I want to keep music as a hobby. If, IF something happens and I’m able to pursue it and it’s able to help support me in living, I’d be very very lucky and it’s very rare that that happens. And so because of that, that’s why I’d rather keep it as a hobby because also, I feel like when you, when it becomes something that you’re kind of pursuing, it loses a bit of what it is. You add a monetary value to it and I feel like, in my opinion, art is best when there’s not a price put to it or anything and it’s just coming straight from the person. And like of course I mean if you’re an artist, like I’ve done this like selling CD’s or something that’s putting value to your work but that’s physical and those are people who are helping support you. I would say I definitely, right now, view it as a hobby. If I was fortunate enough to pursue it I would, I probably would, but also, I would probably take a step back and maybe try to do something else and keep it just as a hobby ‘cause it feels more real and more like, it just feels nicer to me, I don’t know how to explain it too well.
A: No, I get that, yeah I definitely get that. I think that’s a great answer personally and it makes sense. My next question is, what are your inspirations, whether that’s from your personal life, I mean you don’t have to go too deep into that if that’s the case or is it like outside influences, you have someone that you really look up to in the musical sphere, whatever inspires you?
G: I gotta think about that.
A: Take your time.
G: Cause I, I mean, I was raised listening to a lot of the music I listen to [now]. Like my dad when I was in preschool, I remember him just playing like MGMT all the time so that kinda just like formed my music taste there and I’ve kinda branched out from there. I’ve always kind of liked, like acoustic stuff. I didn’t really when I was little but I think that’s just ‘cause when you’re younger, you don’t have as good of an attention span but I really like kind of like more folky artists. Also, like a lot of dream pop and like, you know, just indie rock, all that stuff. That stuff is really fun but I’d say definitely for what I write, I mean I’m gonna just put out there like Adrienne Lenker is one of my favorite artists and I also really like Robert Lester Folsom, that’s a really good one. I’m trying to think of like one more because I know that there’s, I have like an entire playlist of like just like, kind of like random songs that I’ve found through my friends and also by myself or they were just suggested to me. I really feel like they are very intimate sounding and I really want to kind of recreate that sound. I mean its easy to do that when you have just an acoustic guitar and yourself but it’s special to me and there’s this one- what is it? I’m like blanking. A band, a guy called Timber Timbre. I just know him because he has a song called “I Am Coming to Paris (To Kill You)” and it is so good. That song is like one of my biggest inspirations- I love the way that it sounds and it’s very like, it’s a great song but I’d say also I have a lot of musical friends here in Tucson. I have a friend named Lizzie, she makes music under Lizzie Oakwood and she’s also kind of folksy, a bit like bigger band. She started off as a solo artist and I was just very inspired by that because whenever I see her play, she’d be solo and she’d have entire rooms silent just paying attention to her lyrics and the chords that she’s playing and I thought that that was very special. So she is a very big inspiration and then I have a friend named Ben. I’ve known him for a while, I met him through Lizzie, but he also does a lot of like, country stuff. I feel like the fellow musicians in the music scene here in Tucson, they’ve really inspired me to just keep on working and progressing and just creating music even when I don’t feel confident about it or whatever. Seeing them do it pushes me and I’m really grateful for them. I’d say they’re some of my biggest inspirations right now.
A: Awesome! That’s really sweet. I think it’s great that you have people in your life, like physically there. So, I guess that kind of brings me to my next question: is there a process you go through when you’re writing songs or kind of coming up with chords? Is it like it strikes you and you’re like, “Oh I need to go write this down right now” or do you kind of set aside time and it’s like “I wanna be creative”- what is that like?
G: I’ve always been very impulsive with my songwriting. I will be just sitting, just screwing around on the guitar, and all of sudden, I hear something, and I’m like, “wait. I need to sit down and do something off of this.” One of my songs that I wrote called “Ladybug”, the creative process of it was really funny because I was at a summer camp as a counselor and I was screwing around. I was sitting at this campfire area, it was daytime so there wasn’t a campfire, and I had just gotten a one hour break for the first time in that entire week- and this is like a sleepway camp, so I didn’t have my phone on me, I didn’t have anything. You weren’t allowed to have any electronics there so I was just playing my guitar and I had this friend named Emile, who’s trying to get into learning guitar and he’s like “oh can I like play this” and I’m like “oh yeah sure, but it’s in open D tuning”. I was kind of worried ‘cause I did not think he would understand, and he picked it up and he started playing it and I was kind of walking him through how to do it. With the open tunings, it’s different than other tunings and eventually he just kinda gave up and he’s just kinda sitting there with me, listening to me play and then I got the first progression, the first finger progression of the song and I just played it and I was like, “wait this is good”. I just told him I need to go sit down somewhere, so I literally just like, went back to my cabin, grabbed my notebook, and then I just walked into the woods kind of, like off of one of the paths and just sat down and started writing it and it came together very quickly. It actually took me about an hour to write that song and its lyrics entirely. Now I have some new parts that I’ve added but then the I had the entire song and I’m pretty sure at the time I was going through kind of a weird moment because I had just been kind of ghosted by someone that I was close with, so I wrote the lyrics about them pretty much like a message to them. I also wanted to play a song at this talent show that was going on that same day but at night. It was the last day of the camp and I was like “I’m gonna play this song there” and that was the motive behind it. It’s very impulsive for me. Most of my songs have been just me screwing around on my guitar with someone else there and then I’m like” wait this is a really good progression, I’m gonna save this for later”. Then the lyrics- I’ve actually been having a little bit of trouble writing lyrics recently, just because like sometimes it’s hard to put your thoughts into words and make them sound good with a progression so it takes a lot of time. I have a lot of guitar parts that I’m in the process of writing and they’re not done yet, which is completely fine ‘cause I don’t like rushing myself. I think, actually, rushing music falls feels a bit fake. It’s like, it feels like a cash grab and also, I feel like when you rush your own work, it doesn’t come out the best that it could, it has potential and it kinda ruins it. Or limits it.
A: Definitely, I think that applies to a lot of things but especially songwriting, like that’s so personal you don’t want to mess that up by rushing. I guess we’re gonna kind of wrap it up but before we do, I’ll just ask you, is there anything that you kinda would want people to know about yourself as a musician or anything of that sort? Or just anything you’d like to say?
G: I think I’d like to say, just like don’t give up on anything that you want to do. It takes a lot of time. I’m still learning to love my music and to love what I do and sometimes it’s very hard to go through a lot of phases. I remember- it’s like a build up, and even some of the most valued and kind of more pop artists out there are still going through this. It’s okay to not feel extremely confident in what you do but all that matters is you still put your mind to it and you’re gonna get somewhere. I don’t really know what else to say. I thought I’d say that ‘cause I feel like that’s something a lot of people need to hear.
A: I agree. One more thing, if everyone right now that is listening or reading this, if they had to listen to one album right now what should it be? Any album in the world, give it to me.
G: Oh my gosh! This is a hard one. I’m gonna- okay, this is just me personally, I have two favorite albums right now and they’re completely different from what I write but I still love them and is it okay if I say two?
A: Yes for sure!
G: First one is Horse Jumper of Love by Horse Jumper of Love. It’s their self-titled- it’s so good. I’ve been listening to it nonstop this entire week. I LOVE the guitars in it, they’re very inspiring. And then the next one is LOTTO by They Are Gutting a Body of Water. That’s like my favorite album right now. It has not gotten old and it came out last October. I’ve been listening to it since and it’s so good, I really, really recommend it- it’s very loud and noisy but I definitely suggest those two.
A: Thank you so much for doing this! Thank you for supporting student media!
G: Thank you!
A: I hope we’ll have you back!
G: Thank you for having me!