With a unique history of worldwide influences ranging from Sudan to Kent, Ohio, Sinkane (Ahmed Gollab) creates music that's nothing short of fascinating. The Brooklyn-based musician recently released Mean Love, an album filled with soulful, funk-infused melodies, and is currently touring the U.S. (He'll be playing at SOB's on November 2, so save the date.) We got the chance to chat with Sinkane about his new album, high school days, sources of inspiration, and other endeavors.

So great to finally speak to you, how’s your day going so far?

It’s going well, just hanging out here at my house in New York City.

Your album Mean Love was released last month and you’re currently on tour. Are you excited?

It’s very fun, we’re having a lot of fun on tour. We’re, more or less, learning the songs for the first time. I recorded the record without ever playing the songs live, except maybe two. It’s been really fun to learn the songs and their tune in a whole new light. They sound a lot different live than they do on the record, and it’s really exciting for me to re-craft the music on the record with the band.

So, you kind of have a different take on playing the music live as opposed to how it sounds on the album?

Yeah, pretty much. It's nice, it’s much more collaborative. We make it work as a band and it’s really exciting when it all comes together on stage.

I’ve read that you’ve traveled a lot growing up, originally from Sudan. Would you say that’s influenced your music as well as the new album at all?

Absolutely. I’ve had the blessing of making friends from all over the world, as well as seeing a lot of different perspectives on things from many different people all over the world. That’s absolutely informed how I live my life, make music, and make decisions.

Traveling a lot definitely influences your lifestyle and how you view things so I’m sure that’s had a great impact on your music.

It definitely has. All of my traveling has influenced my music in a great way. Growing up, I also spent three months out of the year in Sudan, so that was really exciting as well. I was able to connect with my family, and also being in a place completely different than the United States is guaranteed to make you more openminded.

You grew up in Kent, Ohio. What was it like growing up there and how has it affected your music?

I went to high school there, nice town. It’s a college town and pretty liberal so it was really easy for me to grow up there. There’s a really interesting punk scene in northeastern Ohio -- all of Ohio, actually. It’s a very “do-it-yourself” lifestyle within the community and culture. I’ve learned a lot about how to be in a band through that, and it was really great. I’ve learned to make decisions for myself, and because of this, I don’t feel like I’m making the wrong decision moving forward as a musician. I know how to do everything on my own and how to make decisions, and I think that’s really important as a musician. You should learn to do everything that encompasses being a musician. There’s a really strong community in Kent and also in Columbus, where I went to college. That’s also helped me as well. Moving to New York, too, being part of a community and making records has been really helpful and amazing. But Ohio was really a great place to grow up.

You mentioned Ohio had a huge punk scene, are there any specific bands or musicians that inspired you to pursue music?

I knew I wanted to play music the rest of my life when I was 11, playing my first show. When I moved to Ohio I was introduced to a heavy punk scene, not necessarily the standard punk -- it was more angular and artistic, yet still punk music. A bunch of bands living in Kent were affiliated with the same record label, and with that, they all really made me understand why I wanted to play music. All of my favorite bands lived in Kent and I was able to see them play locally, whether it was at a small café or someone’s house. I was able to go to the owner of the record label’s house to buy music, and being that close with the music scene made me pay more attention to it and appreciate it. It made it so much more human and immediate. They weren’t like the bands I’d read about in Rolling Stone or see on MTV. They were friendly people that I’d see walking down the street. And that really sealed the deal for me when becoming inspired to be a musician.

Seems like it’s a lot more genuine and community oriented.

It absolutely was. The genuine nature of the music scene was so inspiring, and that really sealed the deal for me.

I noticed the lyrics in your new album, Mean Love, seem to be a lot more personal than your previous work, especially the last two tracks. Is there any specific reason for that?

I knew when I started writing that I wanted to sing more, and when you want to sing, you need to have something to sing about. You write what you know and you do what you know -- and I felt like if I was going to sing, I'd have to sing about things I’ve dealt with in my life. I also wanted to talk about topics that were universal. I could sing a song about nostalgia, but at the end of the day the song is about nostalgia and I could listen to it and capture the idea. I also want my audience to be able to relate to the song on their own terms. Being personal about what I wanted to talk about, yet opening it up a little bit more to allow people to feel comfortable when listening to the album. I want to allow people to be comfortable with my music because they can relate to it on their own.

That’s a great aspect of being a musician, relating to your audience and feeling comfortable. With that being said, is there any specific message you’d like to convey to your listeners through your new album?

I feel like the lyrics pretty much speak for themselves. The idea of "Mean Love" can be interpreted in many different ways. You can put different words in it to give it different meaning; in my interpretation, it's similar to “tough love” – not necessarily sad or negative, but a universal idea of love. The sentiment of love is very important to me, and it’s projected in this album in a way that isn’t necessarily what you’d think are “topics" to discuss love. I find that aspect of the album to be very interesting for me, but that’s just my perspective. The album has now been given to the world, and it’s up to the listeners to experience it on their own. Hopefully they’ll find a little bit of themselves in it.

You’ve played a ton of shows in New York and have more scheduled for your Fall tour. Do you enjoy playing in New York, seeing as you currently live here?

The NY music scene is great. There’s so many people here playing music and it’s very inspiring. There are a lot of fabulous musicians out here that do things very well, and I’m excited to be here at this time in particular.

You’ve been playing DJ sets recently alongside your regular music. How is it different as opposed to your regular sets?

It’s really different. I like DJ-ing because it’s kind of an open book with no particular set list. I like playing other people's music when I DJ because there’s so much music in the world to be listened to. I don’t have any DJ sets coming up because it’s tough with the scheduled shows, but I really enjoy doing it. It’s really fun and easy and if you’re just honest with it and play songs you truly like, it’s really exciting. And I enjoy being in a party atmosphere and playing music that gets people excited, so it all works out.

Anything else going on with you that we haven’t mentioned?

I’m really excited to travel on tour and see what opportunities are presented. It’s all about having a good time and I’m always open to being inspired. It’s a really fun time for me right now, and I’m going to take full advantage of it and have fun.