There are no outward signs of the attack.
Singer Gavin DeGraw, 34 — who wrote I Don‘t Want to Be, the title song for One Tree Hill — was jumped by a group of men in New York in August.
Afterwards, bloodied and in the middle of the street, he got hit by a taxi.
Whether the incident has left deeper traces, he doesn‘t want to say when Metro meets him in Stockholm to talk about his latest album, Sweeter.
It happened when he was returning from the bar that he and a brother own.
“Walking home I met a couple of guys who said something to me. When I turned around they attacked me. It was something that happened that was a rough moment,” says DeGraw.
“But as a New Yorker and an adult I always knew that there was a risk that you might at some point be a victim of that type of thing.”
The evening ended with him in an ambulance to the emergency room, with a broken nose and a concussion.
No one has been arrested for the attack but Gavin DeGraw refuses to let the incident influence his life.
“It would be a victory for the types of people who attacked me. For one bad night there are a thousand amazing nights so I would say that if that was a casino, the odds are very good. New York’s casino is amazing, I would play there any day,” he says.
On September 21, DeGraw released his new album Sweeter, which includes collaborations with One Republic frontman Ryan Tedder.
A lot of the songs are about love, but your own love life is secret. Why?
I don’t divulge information about specifically who I date. I’m not looking to capitalize on who I’m dating, like some people do. Sometimes you see people in the tabloids always talking about who they are dating, and they are always dating someone famous. But that’s just like PR-stuff to me. That doesn’t feel authentic.
But you are dating?
Yeah, of course, but I don’t call my publicist to ask who to date to get into the media. I ultimately want to find what is right for me.
I have to ask, do you always wear a hat?
Always, the shower though is a bit difficult, but it’s easier than doing my hair I think. Hair relies on the temperature and the humidity. What is under my hat? A beehive where I keep honey, for tea.”
