We were pretty normal - suburban kids having a good time playing in bands. We were silly. We weren't dark, intense, humorless people. Humor was one of the connecting forces among us. It was more like camaraderie.

On a musical level, I do find it rewarding. It's not like I want to blow my brains out while I'm playing these songs from so long ago. I am still surprised by the way the songs are constructed - note choices, the way the arrangements are made, the way these songs are assembled. I'm still amazed at times.

There are five of us. We've all played in various bands together, in different combinations. I know that Todd [Cook] and Tony [Bailey] are my favorite rhythm section - they're just like a unit. I guess we've all just played together in various capacities, so when the band was coming together, it was sort of like we just chose members because they had similar sensibilities and also because they're just cool. We all got along real well.

As I got older, it turned into hardcore punk. I started getting into more aggressive music.

People like a story that has a lot of blood, sweat and tears. But I don't think the Slint story really has that.

To be honest, just trying to get everybody together in one room to get our picture taken for the back of the album, it took so long just to organize that.

When I was really young, I was really into Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden and those kinds of bands.