Elias recently sat down with Wrestlezone for an interview. During the interview, he discussed the difficult task of trying to get the correct reaction from the live audience, the music that inspires him, and more. Here are the highlights:

On Building His Following:

I am referred to as the ‘living embodiment of truth’. I will give you the truth every time I’m out there. I’m going to be true to myself, true to the city and I won’t hold back.

It started when I was The Drifter. I was drifting from town to town, singing a different song in every city I went. That was when I was in NXT, then I found myself and where I should be here on Monday Night RAW. The reactions have been incredible all over the world, of course Chicago has had some great ones, Seattle, Buenos Aries; some of these crowds overseas are just next-level kind of energy. That’s what I’m looking for and that’s what I demand out of the audiences I perform in front of.

On His NXT Beginnings:

The Drifter was in NXT, and it came about because I wanted to be on the NXT shows, I wanted them to take notice of me. I had a stool and I set it up outside of the Florida shows, people were coming into the building and I sat there playing guitar, talking to people the same way I do now in front of millions of people on RAW, and the people at NXT took notice, and things just kept on going from there. They started using me there, and I’m all over the NXT road shows until I get to Monday Night RAW.

On The Music That Inspires Him:

All genres really do inspire me, and I pull from all different genres. Right now I’m really feeling country, that might not be your style, but I go through everything; alt-rock, ‘90s rock, classic rock, blues, whatever it may be, but right now I’m really into country.

Eric Church, Chris Stapleton, those are my two guys right now.

You can check out the full interview by clicking HERE

Credit: Wrestlezone.