I've had nightmares about having to kick people out of my band because they've said that they don't like the Beatles. I'd wake up and turn to them and say, "You like the Beatles, right?"

I started out really making music in my dorm room, and it wasnt really producing or anything like that; it was you making something.

Broken Bells reminds me how much fun I have making music.

All I do is listen to music. It's a weird thing. It's like I have so much catching up to do. I've always been over my head. That's just the way I work best, you know. Like when you're studying for school you think, "I can only study when I have to study the night before." That kind of means you're lazy or you're a procrastinator, but for me with music it's a similar thing. It's like I've been over my head for most of my career so to speak.

I'm obviously really opinionated, but as a producer, you don't necessarily want the person you're working with to try to impress you - you want them to just be themselves. Then you can edit or mess around with what they've come up with. But you have to allow the artist that space.

Going back and forth between wanting to be respected artistically and wanting to move people is its own challenge.

I have ideas all of the time from the beginning, but they never really wind up turning out like I thought they would.