If there was a simple ethic for the band, it was that we want to be able to do whatever we want to do.

I always thought Kurt Cobain was the perfect embodiment of the great alternative guitar player.

That's the age that people are exploited, exploitable, and they're easily manipulated. The problem with me is, you can't manipulate me anymore. I've seen it, I know it, I've been there. And that's partially why, particularly in America, you see issues with artists as they get older. And they like to keep it a young man's game. Because that's how they can fudge around with the rules.

I feel like I'm always fighting not to repeat myself.

The ideology of the Smashing Pumpkins was ultimately more valuable than the music of the Smashing Pumpkins. That's what critics can't put their finger on.

I use music as some kind of weird salvation to get away from life

Time is never time at all. You can never ever leave without leaving a piece of youth. And our lives are forever changed. We will never be the same. The more you change, the less you feel.