Born and raised in Manhattan, Chris Glover aka Penguin Prison is the latest must hear musician among tastemakers around the globe. The former classmate of Alicia Keys has recently made and name for himself overseas and is currently on tour to promote his upcoming release. Read the exclusive interview and sample a few tracks from his album below:

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given regarding this industry?
I am sure people have given me advice but the things that have helped me most have been learning from my own mistakes. I wrote them all down on a piece of paper and crossed them off one by one as I went about correcting them.

How do you service promos today? (Digital or Physical)
I believe that today people should use every means that they have. Digital and Physical and whatever else there is. Why choose one?!

What’s your hope or wish for music in 2010 going forward?
My hope is to see more people trying to mix different genres of music together. I think in the year 2010 there is almost no point making music that doesn’t have something about it that is different and hasn’t been done before. The way one does this is to take things that “don’t belong together” and put them together.

Which instruments do you play?
I play every instrument.

How do you deal with or prevent an unofficial leak?
I contact the person and ask them nicely to please to take the song down. This can work when only a few people post a song that is not supposed to be out yet. However at a certain point when more than a few people post something it becomes very difficult to prevent the song from being leaked.

What do you feel the next sound is?
The next sound is music that has elements of everything in it and sounds like something you have never heard before.

What’s the most unusual place you’ve ever played a show or made a recording?
I suppose it was at the college. I went to Bard College with my band, Smartest People At Bard. It wasn’t that unusual of a location: in a tent on a field. But it was unusual because one of the people in the band, Eamon had burned his feet the night before walking on fire so he had to sit down while me and the other person in the band, Jed were running around the stage. At one moment during a ballad called “Car Crash Girl Die,” Eamon got up because he was so emotional he didn’t care that both of his feet were burnt.

How do you keep in contact with your fans? Through your site, community sites…?
I keep in contact with people any way that people communicate. Whether it is on the internet, (through MySpace, Facebook or other websites) or just in the streets. If people yell at me while I am walking down the street I will yell back.

Do you think that giving away music for free (as free mp3 or streaming) could help you sell more physical or even digital releases?
Yes of course I think that has to be true. Otherwise no one would know who I am. Because I gave away some songs on the internet now there are people who know who I am and maybe they will pay for my music later.

What was the last song you wrote? What was the inspiration?
The last song I wrote is called “Don’t Fuck with My Money.” It is basically about how people should not fuck with my money. I am not sure where the inspiration came from. It just popped into my head one day.

Forthcoming Shows:

Apr 8 2010 – 8:00P – Mercury Lounge – New York, New York
Apr 21 2010 – 8:00P – Gold Dust @ Hoxton Bar & Kitchen – London
Apr 23 2010 – 8:00P – Dalston Stamford Works – London
May 8 2010 – 8:00P – Brooklyn Bowl – Brooklyn, New York

Visit Penguin Prison Fairtilizer website
Visit Penguin Prison website
Watch “Something I’m not” by Penguin Prison on Vimeo