How did the conversation with your parents go when you were pitching to them going to Europe with Ice-T? That is not a normal permission slip parents receive from a high schooler.

My dad was a musician. We actually escaped Latvia when I was probably five years old. We escaped because my dad wanted to be a rock n roll star in America. That was his dream.

My dad was like the Russian Ricky Ricardo, so I grew up in bars watching him play, or sleeping in the booth.

When we first came to New York my dad was playing the biggest Russian restaurants, and his studio was my bedroom. When he was doing his music he thought I was sleeping, but I was really under the sheet, and I had one eye on ‘em, checking out what’s going on.

The first drum machine I ever touched was his, a LinnDrum LM-2. When I was eight, or nine, I was making beats on a LinnDrum. I used to string his guitar for him.

I remember beatboxing in my mom’s face. She’d be like, “Stop that!” I was like, “One day, mom, you’re gonna see, I’m gonna be a big star.” So when that time came, they were cool with it. They were like, “Go ahead, son. Go do it. Go do your thing.”

I would’ve faked the signature anyway. I wasn’t gonna miss that.

I want to rewind for a second because you mentioned escaping Latvia. How long was it before you went back?

The first time I went back, I think was 2006-ish. I DJed a festival.

I just remember going back, and going wow, this city is beautiful. Then I went back in 2009, that was when Limp Bizkit got back together. The first show we played was in Rega, Latvia. My mom was there, so she showed me where we lived, where we grew up, where she met my dad. It was crazy.

Was there any trepidation about going back?

No, I wanted to go see where my roots are, and it was crazy because I went to go see my grandmother, who I hadn’t seen in forever. One of my dad’s buddies from when they grew up together drove me through the countryside, and I see this little lady standing on the side of this little country road. I got out and I was like “GRANDMA!” It was really touching.

Then seeing where my parents met, where we lived, going back to where the apartment was, and seeing my dad’s inscriptions into the wall where we grew up. My grandma showed me my first tag, which was on her beautiful, wooden armoire. She’s like, “Here’s your first autograph.” They’d just gotten a brand new armoire, back then it was probably a year’s salary, and I inscribed my name into it.

You mentioned you also went back with Limp Bizkit. I know there’s been some rifts in your relationship with the rest of the band, but Three Dollar Bill, Y’all is turning 20 this year, so are you all on cool terms now?

I’ve been talking to Fred a lot lately, actually. I went by his house probably about a week ago, and we broke bread.

Time changes stuff, man, and you learn to figure out what’s important. Besides all the drama that happened, we’re still friends. We still go way back together, and we just put everything aside, and we hung out like nothing ever happened.