It's really the creature of my own making from top to bottom. I appreciate that. And the good fortune, the perseverance, having the stamina to stick around longer than everyone else even after people write you off - that's always been a good motivating force in my life.

I never see songs as permanent. I'm always in a state of revising everything.

You can pout about the way the world is as long as you want, but that's not going to change it. You've got to figure it out.

I was just very into things that were the opposite of what other people liked. I didn't want to listen to music that I could find at a friend's house. My identity was really forged around that, and you know, eventually that kind of identity gets dismantled and fed to the vultures. But I was somehow on my own mission.

I envisioned all these people who had been admired for having been freaks in their own time, and I saw myself in line with them.

In the years between 2000 and 2004, I always got the feeling that people were just starting to hear about me and they were all late to the game. I'd be out playing shows for records that I recorded back in 1999 that were just coming out.

I tried to just do things like make some money, be responsible, help out other artists who I see have had a similar path.