I can fully understand [that] artists want to be able to pay their bills. As a fan of art, and art as a way to shift dialogue and address cultural issues, there's a part of me that's really, really saddened by that and can't really relate to it.

Music careerists from Seattle would typically move to the closest media center, which was L.A.

There's no school you can go to where you can study how to run a record label. Every day was a learning experience.

People are hard-wired for tribal identity.

The idea of having an indie rock "career" while living in a remote backwater like Seattle was too ridiculous to contemplate. It was simply about having adventures, one day at a time, one song at a time.

I was a history major in school. I review the past a lot and think about music history and how culture unfolds.

I think in times of crisis it's the artists' responsibility to dig a little deeper.