Q&A: From Bowling Green, Kentucky to Los Angeles; Mills combines his love of Hip-Hop Beats and Country Music to Create His Sound (Live from Wonderbus)

Q&AMusic

Sep 12

☆ BY Zayne Isom ☆

BORN AND RAISED IN KENTUCKY- Singer-songwriter Mills Turner, otherwise known as Mills, brings southern influence to the west coast. After moving to Los Angeles to pursue music in 2019, Mills signed with RCA Records and has since put out a series of EPs: Clashing Thoughts, Train of Thoughts, and Final Thoughts.

With songs like “Hollow” and “Slide Thru,” Mills describes his music as the perfect blend of the music he grew up listening to. Joining choir at a young age and learning to play guitar at 13, Mills used these skills to start making his own music. By the time he was in High School, Mills had combined his own hip-hop beats with melodic country melodies to create his sound.

Earlier this summer Mills played Lollapalooza for the first time and Wonderbus Music Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. Before that, he opened up for ROLE MODEL in 2019 and played a series of shows with Peach Tree Rascals this past fall, Mills has quickly developed a stage presence and established himself as an artist since releasing his first song “Kanye in My Head” in 2018.

Most recently, he put out a single called “Mile High” and is working on his first full-length album. We had the chance to sit down with Mills before his set at Wonderbus to talk meeting Jack Harlow, finding inspiration and growing up in the south.

LUNA: How do you think growing up in Kentucky has affected your career as an artist/ the kind of music you make?

MILLS: I’d say growing up in Kentucky made me a better person first and foremost. Being around loving people and a good community of people that are there for you all the time. That goes far with being an artist. A lot of people don’t have those qualities and are very stand-offish. My hometown is super close to Nashville and being influenced by going to shows there and the whole storytelling aspect kinda rules that world.

LUNA: What kind of shows did you go to growing up?

MILLS: I went to Nashville a lot, and saw a lot of small saw bands. My best friend had an older brother that would take us. There was this band we saw a couple of times called future thieves, Kings of Leon sort of vibe. I saw Greta Van Fleet, Florida Georgia Line and Dead and Company when I was in high school. I went to a lot of country shows. Darius Rucker was my first concert.

LUNA: Do you feel like your music taste has changed a lot since becoming an artist? Or is it still similar to what you grew up listening to?

MILLS: I used to really like hip-hop music. I used to make beats and rap and that’s what I wanted to do. But I learned to play guitar when I was 13, playing country songs. Then I got into producing and making beats so I started rapping and I feel like over time they found their way together. There are still some hip-hop elements in my music.

LUNA: What is the inspiration behind “ Fight Alone”

MILLS: I wrote that song about somebody I was with that when I was with them I felt like there was stuff they weren’t telling me. But not in a bad way, it was you can talk to me about this stuff you don’t have to go through by yourself. It was about a relationship where you want it to be fully vulnerable and be that person for them.

LUNA: I saw recently that you met up with Jack Harlow? What was the story behind that?

MILLS: I played a festival around Coachella called Revolve and he played there as well. We have some mutual friends and we met backstage. He had listened to my music beforehand. I’ve known about him since I was in high school.

LUNA: When you go back home, what are your favorite spots to visit in Bowling Green?

MILLS: I always play acoustic sets at this bar called Tidballs, that’s probably my favorite spot to play at. Super divey and feels old, Cage the Elephant got their start playing there. I’ll also go to my friend Max’s house and play pool or go to the bars downtown. I love Spencer’s Coffee too, I go there every morning.

LUNA: Have you had the chance to met the guys from Cage the Elephant?
MILLS: I met Matt, the lead singer. He tried to buy my car one time. I was going to Spencer’s and parked in the square and he walked up to me and was like “ yo man you wanna sell that car” and I would’ve said no to anybody but I saw who it was as was like “ yea dude I’ll sell my car to you.” I still have it, its a 1999 Range Rover.

LUNA: What have you been listening to lately?

MILLS: I love rock and roll especially old rock. Newer artists, I really like the new Steve Lacy project. I feel like he’s not trying to conform to any sort of thing that’s going in the music industry and just did his thing. I’m inspired by a lot of old stuff. I’m inspired by seeing what people what I look up to did and trying to make that fresh again.

LUNA: Are you looking to collab with any artist/artists in the future?

MILLS: My favorite band is a band called Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. They all hate each other now so it would probably never happen, but I wanna do a Crosby, Mills & Nash collab.

LUNA: What is your favorite song you've ever written?

MILLS: I love them all but of the ones that are out, I really like the song “Born and Raised.” That one is a good storytelling one and feels like home. Very proud to be where I’m from.

LUNA: What’s next?

MILLS: I’m working on my album right now. It’s called “millzy boy.” This will be my first full-length album, I’ve released 3 EPs. It was a trilogy called Clashing Thoughts, Train of Thoughts and Final Thoughts. Now I’m working on the first full-length record. We’ve been working on it for the past year, it’s coming along. The first single’s coming out in September and the full album should be out early next year.

CONNECT WITH MILLS

INSTAGRAM

SPOTIFY

Listen

INSTAGRAM

We couldn’t be more stoked to have Suriel Hess as our new headliner for our upcoming LA show 🤩 🫶 Not gonna lie, us & Notorious Noise kinda went OFF with this line up & you’re not gonna wanna miss it - ticket link in bio 🎫