My first attempt at real music was when I was 13. My first signed band was when I was 21; that failed. I got another deal at 26; that failed, and then I was broke.

Everybody has got their vibes - it could be mountain biking, it could be hiking, but for me, it's surfing and music. There's a lot of different things, but I think love gives us peace one way or another, and a calming effect on our soul, so I don't know exactly what love is to me, but I know I try my best to surround myself with that.

For whatever reason, the success still blows my mind - that I'm able to talk to people about the music I've written. I always felt like there was something there because you don't put out music unless you have a sense that people will maybe like what you're doing or you're standing for something artistically. I don't mess with that. It's more about just music and trying to keep the integrity, I guess.

Look, one of the things that I know for sure is that none of us truly knows. That's it. It'll hit you later.

I like to write pop songs and the stuff I write is fairly poppy, so I thought maybe my lot in life was to write pop songs for people. It never felt right writing songs for other people to sing, though.

Coming from heavy music too, it's really hard to have heavy music not sound too butthead-ish or jock-ish, and there's a fine line between Limp Bizkit and Nirvana - there's a fine line there, and it's terrifying.

Since I was a kid, when I pick up my guitar it's been hard for me to write some sort of bubblegum lyrics. It's not really ever been my route.