Senior Roy Purdy isn’t just doing homework on school nights. He’s making music. In fact, he just released his own rap mixtape. He sat down with the Noctiluca to give you the inside scoop about his recently released tracks and why he makes music.

The Noctiluca: How did you get started in music?

Purdy: I got started in 3rd grade when I enrolled in piano lessons. Then, in 6th grade I got into an 80’s cover band that played a bunch of local gigs, and I did that until my sophomore year. After I quit, I decided that even though I wasn’t in the band, I still wanted to be making music. I got into original music during my sophomore year. I started messing around with rap because that is my favorite genre, so I decided to start recording some stuff. The first original song I wrote was called Skate Rhyme. Then, I made another original song called Lost Nights. However, it wasn’t until this year that I started recording lots of songs frequently. This is the first year where I’m actually taking it serious and making music every day.

The Noctiluca: The name of your mixtape is “Peanut Butter Banana Sandwiches: Volume 1”. How did you come up with this creative title?

Purdy: Actually that was the very first name I came up with when I started thinking of names for my mixtape. I was like, alright that’s kind of a weird name. I can probably come up with a better one. For a straight month, I was thinking of other names, and I just ended up going back to that one. I honestly named it that because peanut butter banana sandwiches is basically all I eat. I usually have one once a day. If you listen to the mixtape, you’ll notice that I mention them in 4 out of 7 songs. That’s just how much I like peanut butter banana sandwiches.

The Noctiluca: What is your favorite track on your mixtape and why?

Purdy: It’s a battle between Icy Like Ice Cream and 24 Things I Love. Everyone always says 24 Things I Love is their favorite one. I understand that because it’s got a really happy summer vibe. Also, there is a humorous effect in the end of the song. I like Icy Like Ice Cream because you can really get a sense of my personality and how much of a goofy dude I am.

The Noctiluca: Can you talk about your setup for recording music?

Purdy: For all my songs, I don’t go to a studio or anything fancy. I do it all in my room. I have a computer, a microphone, and music software. I use LogicPro to make all my songs. I also have a keyboard that hooks up to my computer, and that’s what I use to make the beats. It’s really simple, but it’s enough to get the job done.

The Noctiluca: You also have music videos that accompany some of your original songs. What do these videos usually entail?

Purdy: The music videos are actually my favorite part of the creative process. Just a song in general isn’t enough for me to express my personality. Seeing how energetic I am in the video, you really get a sense of who I am. The music videos are just really weird and funny. I like to dance around and look dumb in them. I just recently filmed a video in Baskin Robbins for Icy Like Ice Cream this week. When I was getting ready to go film with my friends, I asked them to find the weirdest clothes I had. I ended up wearing some gold grills and gold chains.

The Noctiluca: Where do you get inspiration for your music?

Purdy: I get my inspiration from listening to other artists. It’s usually not songs as a whole that I notice, but certain aspects of songs. Like I’ll listen to one artist and really like the background vocals. Then, I’ll listen to another artist and love the bass and the beat. Some rap artists that I get inspiration from are Father from Awful Records, Super Duper Kyle, Lil B The BaseGod, and even Mac Miller’s older music.

The Noctiluca: When you’re not making music, what are you doing?

Purdy: I’m probably on my trampoline, skateboarding with the guys, or eating a peanut butter banana sandwich.

The Noctiluca: What are your plans after you graduate?

Purdy: After I graduate, my plans are to go to college and study music production and engineering, and whip chef cook my way through life, and swag the stages all over America, and just kill it, and make more music. No matter what I do, I’m always going to be making music.

Make sure to check out Roy’s full mixtape on soundcloud.com.