The most influential time in my life musically was definitely those piano lessons.

In some ways, you do lose a bit of freedom but as you get older, you might realize that you've met someone pretty cool - maybe a soulmate - so you're getting released from the endless pursuit of going out and trying to meet new people. So now you get to put your energy into building something that's longer lasting and a bit more meaningful.

Festivals are unique. They can be the best of times or the worst. You're not playing to the converted. But those are the best shows - to see if you can make new friends and entertain them.

I have listened to college radio quite a lot. I never went to college, so actually the college radio station is sort of like the closest I got to some kind of college experience.

That quote by this guy Friedrich Schiller, "Keep true to the dreams of thy youth"? That quote changed my life. It confirmed that every crazy thing I'd ever done at least was staying true to the dreams of my youth - and really, I mean very young dreams of just being able to have fun all the time.

What people refer to as nerds or geeks, all they really are is people who are passionate about what they like, and aren't afraid of it. To me, it's very frustrating when people are discourage from being enthusiastic about things. This idea of the geek, or the nerd; all that person really is - and I would consider myself one - is someone who is not ashamed of liking what they enjoy.

I remember when I first moved to New York, people said, "Wow, man! You're so great. You have all these hopes and dreams, but it's going to be sad when you realize how the world really works!" But one of the things I love most about this city is that everyone who moves here is being unreasonable. There's a sense of solidarity about that.