T. Mills makes his Irish debut at The Academy with a new years show at The Academy on January 25th. Tickets, €12 including booking fee, are on sale now from Ticketmaster outlets and online at www.ticketmaster.ie.

In the climate of today’s music industry, a do it yourself attitude can go a long way. T. Mills knows this firsthand.

Born Travis Tatum Mills, the 22-year-old was able to turn laptop musical experimentation in his bedroom into national tours and a recording contract with Columbia Records, all in just over two years. But the rapid ascent didn’t come without plenty of work. From an early age, T. Mills was musically curious. As a kid growing up in California, he learned how to play guitar and drums, before soon getting into singing. With an eclectic array of sounds grounding him, it’s no wonder that T. Mills's music is not neatly classifiable, pulling from a number of different places. “I would call it a mesh between hip-hop, R&B, electronic and dance,” he says, before truncating the description. “I call it hip-pop.”

It took some time to hone that sound, though. At 15, he started what he calls an “experimental pop punk” band with friends and was overcome with his connection to music.Before long, he stopped going to high school and shifted his focus to independent studies and music. “Friday and Saturday, I'd sell tickets so I could play a show,” the SoCal singer recalls.“Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we were going to my friends' bands or bands I looked up to. I was sneaking into clubs to go see rappers. I just wanted to be around music.”

Through an acquaintance and good timing, Mills landed himself a coveted spot on the summer-long Warped Tour 2009. Once he returned to the Pacific, Mills rode his early wave of success to book shows for himself at local venues. Then, one day, unexpectedly, the tattooed talent got a call from John D’Esposito, Live Nation’s vice president of talent and the founder of Bamboozle. D’Esposito asked the newbie to craft the theme song for the festival and, in return, gave him a spot on the B-Boy stage, which was also rocked by the likes of Mike Posner and Far East Movement. That Fall, he dropped the album Ready, Fire, Aim!, an independent project that was made available on iTunes and in select retail stores.

Now, as he preps his official debut album, he's looking towards growth and the future.

As the catchy, genre-bending songs continue to develop, you can try to classify T. Mills, but that doesn't matter. He's going to keep doing it his way, like he has all along.

Time to get acquainted with T. Mills.

For more see: www.tmillsmusic.com / www.mcd.ie / www.ticketmaster.ie