The world is full of bands and bullshit, and if I'm doing a stupid art project like rock 'n' roll then I want to spare my audience as much as possible.

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

I don't work under the illusion that I'm the next whatever. Every time a record comes out, if it gets a good review, I'm like, "Well, one more year, guys. We bought ourselves another year".

The music usually occurs to me as a complete sound, and then I have developed the skill of being able to translate that into a fully realized song.

I was been raised to believe I was an artist. I believed what my parents said and fulfilled it, like a prophecy.

I've kind of gotten more timid. I used to be fearless - at a certain point I didn't care about what anybody thought. I had all the answers and I could have been as bad as I wanted to be. But nowadays I just want to be good and make people happy.

Confidence was never in short supply in my case. If anything, I think I overshot the mark with confidence way too early in my career, and gradually, it's about just getting more humble and wanting to sit down more.