Brandon K. Howard, or A.T. (Always True) is an aspiring musician out of Miami, Florida new on the scene. A sophomore at the University of Central Florida, he is pursuing a degree in Pre-Med.  That sounds pretty rough. When he's not studying or working as a busboy at a local pizza place, he is in the studio working on new songs. 

I got to ask A.T. a couple of questions about his life and his music.  

How did you come to making music and what was your first performance?

I’ve been playing piano since I was 6 years old and guitar since I was in high school. My dad told me that if I don’t play an instrument I could not live in the house. Pretty harsh, but I’m happy he made me stick through with it because I’m having the time of my live right now.

Where did the name A.T. come from?

This goes back to 10^th grade. I was sleeping in my room when my next door neighbor knocked on my window to go to a studio. I told him (Ethin) that its 7:30am in the morning and I’d rather just sleep. So Ethin opened my door and woke me up to go. When we get to the studio, I link back up with an old friend who’s now my engineer (Instinctz). Ethin and his CME crew are recording his song “Jumpin” and noticed that there was a vacant 3^rd verse. So he told me to get on it. And at the time, I never rapped before. So I said hell no, but after a little negotiation I wrote a small verse and recorded it. First the crew told me that it wasn’t up to bar with there verses. I told them that either you take the verse I wrote or you’re not getting a third verse. And so they named me A.T. or Always True.

Who writes the music? Beats?

Ever since the song Jumpin’, I’ve been writing all my lyrics. Beat wise it depends. I’ve recently been trying to make beats myself and recorded live guitar and piano. Since I’m a college student, I usually search for beats on soundclick.com and lease beats off of there. When I make a lot of money at my part time job, I can spend more time creating my own music (Production).

What's the wildest party you've performed at?

The wildest times are always when I’m free styling with random people at parties. But I’ve performed at Mi-Vi Gulfstream, Space Miami, Will’s Pub, Firestone Live, and smaller venues. The wildest had to have been Mi-Vi Gulfstream just because it was my first performance and I performed in front of 200+ people. No one know who I was but still enjoyed the performance.

Who gets down harder? You or your fans? Explain.

If you mean gets down like “Low/sad” I would say neither because I make music for fun. I have no wishes to try to be famous. This is all a hobby for me that I do in my spare time. If you’re talking about who’s to me the most me or my fans, I would say my fans. I’ve been making different sounding music since I started. My goal is to create new types of music that people would fall in love with. When my fans say, this sucked, or whatever, I just ask them what was wrong with it and how can I improve on making music more enjoyable for my fans. I make the music for the fans entirely. I just like feeling the satisfaction of “This is amazing” and seeing an idea turn into a masterpiece.

What's a day in the life of A.T. look like?

Depends what time of the year. During 3/4ths of the year I am in college pursuing a pre-medical education at the University of Central Florida. That my main focus. I still make music, but I focus more on interviews, some shows, and music videos

When summer, Spring break, and winter break come, I switch to all music. I work at Anthony’s Coal Fire Pizza as a Busboy and work just to pay for my studio time. Without music, I would be a lazy kid at home. Getting on blogs, shows, interviews, music videos, promoting, etc.

Do you have any "tour battle scars"?

I actually haven’t been on a complete tour yet. I’ve been dreaming about doing a tour forever. It’s all up to my fan base to eventually grow to be able to do that.

What's it like when you step out on stage in front of screaming fans?

One of the best feelings in the world. It’s crazy because its shows you how a single idea has turned into a major reality.

Where do you get your inspiration for your lyrics from?

Honestly, I get my lyrical inspiration from my everyday life. Everything in my songs, I’ve done and have happened to me. Artist wise I find my inspiration from wide spectrums of music talents such as Journey, Eminem, The Eagles, Logic, Mac Miller, Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, Nas, and the list goes on.

Do you have any pre-show rituals to get you pumped up?

I’ll have a couple beers before a performance to get my nervousness out of my system. Other then that I just thank g-d for everything he gives me and then I step on stage.

What's next? Tour? EP? Mix tape?

I’m currently working on 2 projects at the moment. I have my own microphone that I’m trying to master the secrets behind engineering strictly from YouTube videos. This project is strictly hip hop and is called “Poet in Disguise”. This tape has not set date because I’m trying to perfect my vocals.

My second Project is an EP that will have all hit records. This summer I’m looking to record about 5-10 songs that everyone will love to bump in the club, in the car, and out at parties.

And off the records, it’s crazy because I have a split fan base. Since I continually create such different styles of music, I have people who only like certain styles. Some people only like my Hip Hop Reggae tracks. Or some people only like my Alternative tracks. So at times it’s hard to compensate for all 4300 fans of mine. I hope my fans know I try my best and am glad I have all their support.

Be sure to follow A.T. on Facebook for upcoming show details and exclusive song drops.

Download A.T.'s mixtape: "Don't Doubt me"