Actually, I was having dinner with Michael [Stipe, of R.E.M.] when our second album went platinum, which up until that point was the highest success we'd ever had. And he turned to me during dinner and said, 'Welcome to the deep waters, kid.' I'll never forget that.

You have to be willing to deal with the ups and downs of the music, the ups and downs of the audience.

People always seemed to pay attention to us. I have no idea why -- there was just a presence between the four people or something.

As a 28 year old who's lived long enough to know the difference, I know now that the feelings I felt an 16 were not necessarily correct. But however overly dramatic, the desperation and hopelessness I felt at 16 was my reality.

My version, of course, is not this flag-waving, let's all get on the Jesus train and ride out of hell. I'm not that kind of guy. It's an embrace that life is good, worth living and yeah, it's not easy, but there are more pluses than minuses.

Why is it that all non-conformists look the same?

I often have deer on my property and there's a fox and owls. You're not going to see that in the city.