[Early on,] the attitude was that what I was doing wasn't music.

There are plenty of Minutemen. People willing to be Minutemen. Where are the people that want to be George Washington? Where are the Benjamin Franklins? Where is Sam Adams? Where is John Adams?

With my own music, I try to get away from things that are familiar and things that would be easy for me to go to.

Your heart is a drum keeping time with everyone.

I'm more critical of my songwriting than anybody, but I've worked really hard in the last five to 10 years to improve.

I'm always working on my own music, too. I've been working on a record for a few years.

I'm always looking for older equipment and ways of recording, but you can't escape the fact that it's all going to be digitized and reduced. I do think music sounds better when it's on tape and more simply recorded. I've been arguing with people for 10 years about tape versus digital, and I believe tape is absolutely essential in getting the sound that's conducive to the enjoyment of music. I wonder if it's going to go back to that. Sometimes I think it has to. As music becomes more computer-based, it's lost some emotional impact.