Machine Gun Kelly

Before I even started listening to rap music, I was really into metal and punk.

I'm a kid from Ohio in an industry that drives people insane.

I sell out shows. My performance is top-tier.

I have so many accomplishments under my belt.

They always say if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere, but I say that about Cleveland.

New life situations equal out to new kinds of songs.

My memory stops at 14.

As soon as 'General Admission' came out, there was a whole new pain that hit me that was rougher than I could imagine.

A lot of time, my inspiration comes from pain: growing pains, hunger pains, or money pains.

I've had more life experiences than most people that are older than me.

I actually have an Avenged Sevenfold tattoo on my body.

I listened to Korn and Limp Bizkit and that whole era of heavy music.

I was picked on a lot as a kid because of the way I dressed. Metal and punk music got me through that. I know a lot of people don't understand it, but I love metal.

The normal MGK reaction that everyone expects is for me to be angry and go off, because my history shows that's the type of attitude I'm bringing to the table.

I'm an anarchist. I have it tattooed on my stomach.

I don't think having a conservative mind in 2012 is a cool thing.

You can make something out of nothing. I proved that with my career, making it out of the city that I'm from.

I was never supposed to get a record deal - that's one in a million.

With anything that happens in Cleveland, I always get involved.

I love looking at pictures of me in 2012-2017, because every single one of those Machine Gun Kellys looks different.

I think that me as a person, and as a personality, even my name alone, 'Machine Gun Kelly' - it is very loud, and it says a lot.

Every night, we put on shows that are deteriorating our bodies' life span... we don't do it for it all to be in vain.

I want to keep the whole 'Lace Up' movement going. I want to take it national and international with a machine, a label.

Every time I perform, I always try to have that 'wow' factor.

I've never been a bandwagon Clevelander. I've been talking about Cleveland and holding up Cleveland since before we were champions.

I'm very personal with my music, and it takes a piece of your heart away every time you record that in the studio. So you only have so many pieces of your heart to give away.

To be considered for the hottest breakthrough MC of 2011, it's obviously an honor, but I want to be the hottest.

I've never been comfortable with sharing anything: I was a single child.

It's crazy. Even doing that one episode of 'Catfish,' I get people recognizing me for it who didn't even know my music.

I've become so much more comfortable divulging things I've never talked about before, honing in on certain relationships that everyone can relate to.

I'm trying to be the Dr. Dre of Cleveland.

Imogen Poots loves music to death and can literally name 300 bands that she listens to, that you've never heard. She's so heavy into the underground music scene. When she's speaking on music, she means it.

There's blackballing involved with Machine Gun Kelly, a lot of confusion about who I am as an artist. But that's so small in the wake of someone like Nelson Mandela.

There really are a lot of stereotypes I fight.

I recognize fans at every show.

'Cleveland' went viral, but it didn't necessarily pop. I didn't have that support. I didn't have a deal when I made 'Cleveland' or anything like that.

I think the artist community is very tight-knit.

I love surrealism.

I feel like a celebrity is someone who sits and takes pictures with people 'cause they love themselves and how they look and how people look at them. But I just want to be regular and respected for my artistry because music doesn't necessarily have a face.

I think, with music, I'm a lyricist who talks about real life things.

I was really excited about 'Nerve' with Dave Franco and Emma Roberts.

As I was coming up, there was so much naysaying, there was so much doubt, whether it was from my peers or people in the industry.

Doing 'Roadies' was a big release for me. I play this character named Wes who's the most pure, innocent form of who I was when I was eighteen searching for something.

I'm from Cleveland. I don't have any famous parents. I don't have any media training, I don't have a history in the industry to where I would have any preconceived notions of how I'm supposed to be.

My view on music and the way that it's portrayed is that it's a religion.

When I came into the industry, and as I continue to be in it, part of my authenticity is the fact that I speak my mind.

It seems like I'm one of those people that has the personality where, if I win an award, I wake up the next day, and I'm like 'Oh, but I didn't win this award though, or this didn't happen.'

Puff is more of a mentor rather than someone who's directly involved in my movement or helping me put my album together. It's not like me and him party together. He's definitely more of, like, a mentor.

I've graced almost every stage in N.Y., from Webster Hall to Gramercy Theater to Best Buy.

I'm not one of those acts where it's, like, this mainstream person, where the average white kid at Harvard University is like, 'It's educational tonight. Let's all go out there and spend Dad's money.'