Benjamin Booker performs at the Greek Amphitheater in Berkeley on July 28, 2017. Jay Demetillo/STAFF.

Blues-punk singer-guitarist Benjamin Booker, who’s playing at Outside Lands, is also a well-educated man. He attended an International Baccalaureate supplementation in high school in Florida, which means that he has not one but two high school diplomas. One of them provided a global view education that’s not common in the U.S. This earned him a near-full ride to college, where he studied to be a journalist… before getting sidetracked.

Roman Gokhman: How did the the International Baccalaureate program in high school help you?

Benjamin Booker: I guess it helped a little bit with writing and stuff, but usually if you’ve got the diploma, then you can go to college for free in a few states, so it’s OK.

What was the biggest lesson you learned opening for Jack White last year?

To take risks was a few things that we took away every night. It’s just a very impromptu show and nothing’s really planned. It’s really easy if you play a setlist that’s the same every day. Usually, we’ll change some things around during the show or add some parts to the songs, just because I feel you need to do that to keep it exciting for you and it also keeps it exciting for the people watching.

On “Spoon Out My Eyeballs,” you don’t have very kind words for songs produced in high-tech studios. Does it mean that you would always turn down a major label deal?

No, it does not mean that I would. Both of the labels that I have, as long as they’ll have me and things continue the way they are, there’s no reason why I would ever leave. I guess the beginning of the song is from the point of view of the younger me in my growing up in the DIY culture and how it was taboo to have any goals. Everything was do-it-yourself, which can be awesome. I guess you get older and you realize that the punk scene can have some more rules than if you’re outside of it and you’re actually just doing your own thing. The second half of the song is … more of how I feel today. I had my nose in the air about the way that I felt people should do things. I don’t judge people anymore for having goals.

Does it feel good, performing a song like “Slow Coming” now, in light of the Supreme Court ruling granting marriage to everyone?

Yeah, that day I was like, “Well, maybe one of these days I won’t need to sing this song anymore.”

Are you looking at playing in Golden Gate Park and at Outside Lands as a special show, because of the park’s rich history of music?

Benjamin Booker: We’ve only played in San Francisco one time, so it is exciting to go back, but I’m not familiar with the history of the park. Who’s played there?

The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane; the park was home to the Summer of Love. Of course, the Rolling Stones had a show planned that the city turned down (which led to the Altamont show).

Yeah, I’m excited to play there just because I enjoy going to San Francisco and the park is beautiful. I think it should be a good time. I’ve never been in to the Summer of Love stuff, and definitely I’m not into the Grateful Dead. What I think about San Francisco: I think about garage rock and punk. That’s why I’m always excited to go back there, but yeah, I definitely did not have any Summer of Love phase where I was into Jefferson Airplane or any of it.

Did you have any favorite memories or experiences in the Bay Area?

The last time I was there, we were playing a show (at Brick & Mortar). I was walking to go to the dressing room, in which you had to leave the building and go to a building around the corner, I was walking by a restaurant and (divisive cult director and screenwriter) John Waters was sitting in the window. I just gave him this really grossed-out look. He looked at me. It was a very awkward moment. He just looked like the creepiest dude.

Follow editor Roman Gokhman at Twitter.com/RomiTheWriter.