Singer/songwriter Tim Rose's sound is distinguished by use of the electronic looper, a device he picked up in Hawaii. “I’d say my strongest influences are Bill Withers and Prince. One writes spiritual hymns and gut-punching, plain-spoken blues, the other is a florid songwriter of the highest caliber. Bill plays one instrument terribly, and doesn’t much care. He writes what he feels. Prince is a virtuoso at every instrument and would record his albums entirely by himself. They really are the yin and yang of my approach to music. On the one hand, write from the gut, what my spirit drives me to say. [But Prince is] intent on building a skyscraper of sound, with the kick drum as the foundation and funky floors intricately constructed around it.”
He says he began living out of his van in 2015, saving the money he made playing venues such as Mission Bay Resort and Estancia La Jolla. “I first lived in a little Nissan NV200 on Oahu for about three and a half years. I named that van Vanessa. When I upgraded to a larger white van in 2019, I named her Vanna White. No particular reason, just a van pun. What started van life for me was a desire to be an artist full-time. I decided that I would move into the van, because rent in Hawaii was so expensive.”