I don't think you need to sound like from where you're from. But I think there is something magical and powerful about encompassing something fully and singularly.

With Sleater-Kinney, we did a lot of improvisation in our live shows, and even our process of songwriting involved bringing in disparate parts and putting them together to form something cohesive.

I'm really drawn to the uncompromising realness of natural process: It's unadorned. It's not very pretty.

I think a lot of the intention of bands, especially in the last year, is to spread themselves out geographically and borrow from different cultures and different sounds, and to be eclectic. And that's great in terms of dynamics, but it also tends to not have that torpedo and fire running through it. If you're spreading yourself out across the globe, you're also not emphasizing a singular point, which I think great rock music has always done.

I'm all about being prudent. And I've started to appreciate experiences more than actual objects.

I think when you're writing from your own life, it's hard because you realize that people have their own assessment of how they look, and they don't know how you will describe them.

I always felt that the most common thread in my life from when I was young until now has been a highly observant, very analytical mind.