OK! Interview: Gavin DeGraw

Gavin DeGraw isn’t just a pretty face!

The In Love With a Girl singer has recently been on a trip with the United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign to combat the deadly malaria epidemic.

On his visit to Uganda, in east Africa, Gavin met with refugees, handed out bed nets – which keep malaria-carrying mosquitoes away at night -- and helped to teach people on how to use them.

In an OK! exclusive, Gavin shares his experiences on the trip and tells us about his new album Free.

Tell us about your experience in Uganda.

Malaria is a massive killer and an illness that was creating dire need, since millions of people were dying from it -- and it’s a simple, practical and affordable fix. It brought a new meaning to certain things that I take for granted.

What surprised you the most when you were down there?

Most of the medical facilities on the settlements were in such bad shape and most had only one doctor there seven days a week.  The percentage of patients that suffer from malaria is up to 85 percent.

 What’s your newest album Free all about?

“I spend lots of time analyzing myself and this album is about figuring myself out in a sense, not in a vain way but more in a critical way. It reflects my own personal battle from within and my many extremes.”

EXCLUSIVE PICS OF GAVIN'S TRIP TO UGANDA!

When and where do you go when you write?

Typically it’s where you sleep -- my bedroom but when you’re touring on the road, it’s in your bedroom on the bus because that’s your privacy place and only alone time. For this album, I spent a lot of time in my piano room at my studio in Brooklyn being a bit of a hermit there just hunched over my notebook hours on end.

You’ve obviously written several songs for ladies. How many and do you tell them its about them?

I’ve written over 100.  It doesn’t mean I’ve liked 100 – its not like each girl gets one song but when you’re into somebody that’s your life. I would never tell them I’m writing about them. I would encrypt it in such a way that they would have no idea, because what if it doesn’t work out and then they always have bragging rights that there’s a song about them? You don’t want to leave someone with that kind of victory.

What makes you like most other guys out there?

My jeans. You get that pair of jeans where you feel most comfortable and you kind of wear them until your friends say, ‘hey man, weren’t you wearing those last month? Haven’t you washed them? They’re not as comfortable when you wash them cause they get all tight and all.

By Michelle Edgar