The musician also talks double dating with Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox.
Mod Sun is ready for the next phase of his career. After releasing his fourth studio album, Internet Killed the Rockstar, he's kicking off his Internet Killed the Rockstar Tour, which started earlier this month with a sold-out show at The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, California.
ET's Denny Directo spoke with Mod Sun, whose real name is Derek Ryan Smith, about this new era of his life and the special support the rocker is getting from his girlfriend, Avril Lavigne.
"I grew up on stage, so I know how to get on stage in front of people," he tells ET. "To be able to bring the energy that you bring to the stage into an album, that's always been the biggest challenge for me. I think I finally did that right with this album. I was very conscious of that going into this."
One way he's upping his game is by collaborating with Lavigne, who sometimes joins him on stage.
"She's an icon, so I'm just lucky to be next to her," he gushes over his girlfriend. "I have to step my game up just to be next to her on stage, because she's that good. I learn from her every day, she teaches me, she was giving me vocal tips today."
In addition to the musical help, Mod Sun says Lavigne also is a support system.
"She's been my biggest supporter, which is not something I've ever really had in my life before, is someone supporting me that much, that I'm, like, that close with," he explains. "So to have her in my life, supporting me and helping push me, and she's the first one that I play like music to now."
Mod Sun also opened up about going on double dates with Lavigne and his pal, Machine Gun Kelly, and his girlfriend, Megan Fox.
"Kells is like my legit brother. He's like my legit best friend," Mod Sun said of the musician, whose real name is Colson Baker. "We just wrapped doing a movie together. We were together every day for the last two months."
The pair co-directed Good Mourning With a U, a film about which they will give no details just yet. Comedian Pete Davidson and Fox are both featured in it.
So what are these double dates like?
"Well, I suppose I'm the designated driver, first off," the musician, who has been public about his sobriety, jokes. "It most likely ends in a parking lot off of Sunset listening to music as loud as we can in the back of a pickup truck."
Mod Sun's Internet Killed the Rockstar Tour runs through Oct. 3.
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