I was into punk, but I didn't go whole-hog. A lot of kids who grew up in small towns that were into punk music went the "safe" way - not doing drugs, being straight edge.

If you ask any driver about their first trip to New York, it's always crazy.

I definitely straddled the line and hung out with high-school dirtbags. I'd tell my parents I was spending the night at my friend's but actually go to Philly and see a show at Starlight Ballroom. I would drink and do all that stuff, but I didn't set any barns on fire.

I was into punk, but I didn't go whole-hog. A lot of kids who grew up in small towns that were into punk music went the "safe" way - not doing drugs, being straight edge.

Any parent would have reservations if their kid came home dressed like a skinhead, but mine understood that punk kept me focused on something when so many of my friends were out robbing 7-Elevens.

You can't quite believe what you are hearing - and it's not necessarily something that you can listen to all the time because it's too intense - but it changes the way you go about making music.

I grew up in Nazareth, Penn., which was an hour and a half from New York, and an hour and a half from Philly. So bands that were touring came through one way or another. We got to see stuff people in other small towns didn't, like Wesley Willis. I couldn't have asked for a better place to grow up and be into music.