As soon as you start to think of that thing that you want to convey or say, you can always just say it much better than you can actually rhyme it or stuff it into a song. It's very, very difficult to just kind of get your point across without going the back way. And you have to be good at that, to not think about things so hard. Let the pen take over, so that it's somebody else's job to dissect the lyrics and tell you what you're all about.

Everything comes with hard work. You never get to stop working. I don't see myself ever getting comfortable enough to not have to worry about working.

My music already has this oldish kind of quality to it, like you don't necessarily know what era it was recorded in, so it all kind of felt surreal and weird. Night after night when I played live, I was really trying to figure it out in real time, and I still don't know what effect I'm going for or what effect I actually achieve. Looking back, I feel like it would be arrogant of me not to appreciate the fact that I've been able to do whatever I want and still have an audience come see me.

I still have a very nonintellectual, nonjudgmental relationship with melody and the music as I hear it all in my head.

Talk about a struggling artist having to work against enormous odds ... But I love movies so much, so I'm going to do it.

My goal is to make something special and pure, and that keeps me going, keeps me busy on the path of sobriety.

At 35, I'm thinking, Oh, I don't have any of that initial inspiration that I had before, all that angst. I always thought I would burn out very quickly.