Thank god we don't know a lot about William Shakespeare or Moses or Homer or Lautréamont. These are the best guys we got, and their art is powerful because they're mysterious. Once biographical information contaminates your consciousness, it's impossible to erase it and look at someone's work the same way again.

All these biopics and biographies and people gossiping about so-and-so's drug abuse or who's sleeping with who, it's just a bunch of nonsense.

Folk art has never been much about politics; it's about action and utility.

I don't need to control anything. Even with romantic partnerships, I don't need to control anyone.

Even if I'm writing music, it's with a lyric in mind, to communicate some kind of feeling.

I don't care much about politics. That kind of witchcraft I stay away from because people end up dead. I'd rather die for music.

To me, craft work is the ultimate. Maybe I got this idea from the autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, who was employed as a sculptor to the state and church, making coins and things. While he admired Michelangelo, he also made fun of his spiritual angst with art.