It's not enough to have good intentions. If you want to be a good person, you have to make good decisions all the time and live a life that's worth living and that you can be proud of, and that's what I wanted.

You have to have some kind of clarity or understanding of what's happening to write.

I realized that the reason why my head was so cluttered and why I was so unstable and not taking care of myself, all of these things, was that I was unhappy. If I wanted to get to a happier place and find some kind of peace, I was going to have to address problems with myself, things from my life up until that point that I hadn't dealt with: insecurities, fears, and those kinds of things.

I was just a music lover who wondered what it would sound like if Otis Redding strapped on a guitar and played in a punk band. Thats it.

Ive been making music since I was 14, but for a while, I was afraid to perform.

Even when I interviewed bands, it was about asking them about writing songs, so it was more for me than anybody else.

I hardly ever go back to Florida. It's really hard to go back. I mean, I hated it so much. I didn't grow up in a great neighborhood, and it puts me back in that feeling of, "I want to get out immediately." That was kind of the push and what still pushes me, that I don't want to end up back there.