I like just having that separation between my music life and my personal life.

I know plenty of hyper-intelligent metal people, but at the same time, there's this dumbass, hardheaded, macho attitude associated with it. For younger people, it's like a succubus.

You can have the coolest job in the world, but it only seems cool until you get sick of it.

The band has always been such a huge part of my life and it kept me very busy. That, in combination with something like running a record label, just means my whole life revolves completely around metal music and I can't do that anymore.

It's been nice to have a band and people I'm close to that I can get that understanding from and help me realize what I want to do in my life as a musician.

I think it's safe to say that 50% of the record buying metal community is people between the ages of 16 and 25 - people still in their teenage-angsty, early young-adult years.

If I'm going to make music and put my heart and soul into this and dedicate my whole life to it, I want to be making something that 15, 20, 30 years from now, somebody is listening to and that is a staple of the time it came out.