Matisyahu psyched for his Festival of Light show at the Capitol Theatre

The holiday season is upon us. And what better way to celebrate then attend a concert. On December 16; reggae-rap superstar Matisyahu will bring his "Festival of Light" show to the Capitol Theatre.

I spoke to Matisyahu (who's real name is Matthew Paul Miller) in a recent phone interview about the show; his career and what audiences can experience from his live acoustic performance at the Cap.

“I decided about seven or eight years ago that I wanted to do Hanukkah shows mainly in New York and call them, “The Festival of Light” and have many different openers,” Matis confessed in a telephone interview. He added, “It evolved to what it is today which is going to be eight or so shows across the country, some of them acoustic others are full-band.”

Matis (he is called for short) is originally from White Plains and attended White Plains High School. He specified that he wanted to hold the show at the Capitol Theatre because of his ties to Westchester.

“It just kind of worked out that way,” he stated.

It was a trip to Israel and Colorado when he was 16 that transformed his life and shaped his career. He admits he's an avid Phish fan.

“Many things happened to me that year. It was my Junior year of high school and that summer I went to Colorado on a wilderness type program. At that point, I started to feel that sort of longing for God; I felt the longing and a certain emptiness and sadness and that sent me on my journey. I went to Israel that Fall and that tied in the Jewish component of my search—I wouldn't become religious until many years later. Being in Israel gave me a new perspective and gave me a sense that there was something ancient in my soul in my being Jewish and there was something sacred for me to explore.”

When Matis returned from Israel, it was a hard transition for him coming back to high school. He explained his affinity for the band, Phish.

“I went with a friend of mine who I had met in Israel to a Phish concert and that brought the whole musical element to the whole journey and that's when I finally realized I wanted to really spend my life making music and being involved with music. I didn't think about becoming religious or Chassidic until I was about 20 years old and in college. I began to explore different synagogues, rabbis and teachings and began to live the lifestyle and take on the philosophy and I moved to Crown Heights, Brooklyn.”

His religious image changed in 2011 when he decided to come clean as himself.

“Taking on that Chassidic lifestyle was a choice that I made. It was feeding my spirituality it was feeding my growth and contributing to my life. I made a decision that I was going to submit myself fully 100 percent to the lifestyle and rules. Even things that I didn't believe in or agree with; I took them on with the belief that I would nullify myself to this higher cause. Then last year, I decided that I was going back to that original take I had that I spent this decade with this philosophy of nullifying myself to the religion and I was going to claim myself back again and re-evaluate it all—strip everything back and shave everything away and which aspects of Judaism would allow me to evolve and grow and the ones I was ready to move away from.”

One of his songs, Miracle will be performed live at the Cap. He wrote the song two or three years ago.

“It's a Hanukkah song, there's another one I will perform called, “Happy Hanukkah” My songs are inspired by life but in general the first batch of songs that I had was greatly inspired by Chabad Chasiduit was the main inspiration of my first record. My previous record was inspired by was called Breslov Chasiduit, and my most current record, “Sparkseeker” has been inspired by many things but mainly by the Bal Shem Bal Tov and all along I've been inspired by my quest and search, my feelings and my life.”

Matis released four studio albums since 2004 including his latest addition, “Sparkseeker.” He's putting out a live EP in 2013.

“I'm putting out a live acoustic EP of some of the songs off “Sparkseeker.” I'll be doing an acoustic tour in February and the EP will be out in January. My next studio record may come out in 2013 we'll see that would be great.”

All of the proceeds of his new song, “Happy Hanukkah” is being donated to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.

Matis achieved many milestones and accolades as the spokesperson for Kenneth Cole and was named the most intriguing reggae artist in the world.

“I guess it's good to be different—I've grown as a musician and as a person. There's no award for that you don't get a Grammy for it. I feel that over the course of the last eight years that I've been doing this; I've come a long way. I enjoy music more than ever and I feel that I'm better than I ever was,” he relates.

His interest and roots in reggae music began as a kid. He has cousins from Barbados.

“They played reggae music for me—I really got into it when I was a teenager at age 14 when I began to grow a strong love for it.”

Audiences can experience a great time at Matisyahu's performance at the Cap. He'll be playing most of his songs from his catalog for his devoted fans.