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Kip Moore interview: "I’m truly an introvert with the most extroverted job in the world"
9 March 2022, 10:00 | Updated: 10 March 2022, 13:07
Kip Moore interview: "I’m truly an introvert with the most extroverted job in the world"
Kip Moore is very much his own person, and likes to manage his life and career without too many distractions.
The 41-year-old country star has opened up to Smooth Country's Eamonn Kelly about how he makes sure to escape the noise for two months every year (whether his manager likes it or not!).
Watch the full interview video above.
"I normally tour for 10 months’ straight – and I did that last year – and then I take off two months every winter, and I go surf, and then I go snowboarding," Kip said. "And then I go back to work. So I just got back, just a little bit ago, from snowboarding.
"People can’t wrap their head around it. I had this tiny, little backpack, and I’ll leave for a month-and-a-half to Costa Rica, Mexico, somewhere like Maui, whatever. And that’s all I’ll bring. And they’re like, 'There’s no way you can travel like that.'
"And I’m like, 'Yeah. I’ll bring one t-shirt that I never wear, pretty much, when I’m at the beach the whole time, and a pair of board shorts.'
"I’ve got some old, beat-up Vans shoes, and I barely even wear those. I feel this sense of freedom. And every morning, I’ll get my coffee, and I’ll kind of go meditate a little bit in the early morning, around 5.30 or 6am, and then I kind of skateboard through the town before anybody’s woken up.
"You hear all the birds, and it’s incredible. And then I’ll surf a little bit. And I usually get a workout in after I surf. I have my routine. And then I get on a dirt bike, and I go ride a dirt bike up through the mountains of Maui. But there’s times when I’ll go 48 hours and I realise I haven’t said a word to anyone – for 48 hours. And I love that."
Elaborating on his amazing life, Kip continued: "I come from a family of six kids, and I think that kind of shaped me a little bit. I was always trying to get off on my own, you know, because everybody was trying to get a word in all the time, you know?
"So I became my own man very early in life, and... I’m truly an introvert with the most extroverted job in the world. I feel like, you know, you give so much. So I learned early in my career that I needed to take breaks.
"But, you know, you don’t know what you can and can’t do when it’s early on. Around 2017, I told my manager – I said, 'Hey, look, here’s the deal. I’ll tour up until December 15th, and then I’m leaving, and I’m not coming back until the end of February.'
"At first, it was kind of like, 'Well, hang on a second now. We need to talk.' I said, 'This isn’t a discussion. This is what I’m going to do. And if you book a show, I won’t be there. I’m going to go surf, and that’s how it is.' It was a great decision on my part.
Kip Moore - She's Mine (Official Music Video)
"And they always try. It’s like, every year, I’ll get: 'Hey, we’ve been offered to play the AFC Championship. We’ve been offered to do this.' I’m like, 'You could offer me a million dollars, and I ain’t taking it. I’m not coming.'"
Kip - who has never been married and has no children - previously joked that he'll probably be "the last bachelor standing" due to his lifestyle.
He also revealed that he is working on his next album, saying: "I’ve just let the label hear the first three or four. And I don’t think I’ve ever had a reaction like that to my music, of all the previous four records.
"The hope is that we have the record out, you know, by mid-summer. But I’m not sure what’s going to happen."
Kip Moore will perform at this year's Country 2 Country Festival. In London, he will play on Friday (March 11) before headliner Miranda Lambert. He will also appear in Glasgow on March 12 and Dublin on March 13.
