That was how I got into music and art was being a battle kid from Jersey, so I didn't have these wonderful ways of learning commitment, dedication, practicing skill.

You can always find the sample that covers what you're hearing, but barely...it allows me to really concentrate on words.

Whether it's just the career path of doing independent music, being an artist, however you want to pigeon-hole it, it creates a certain type of character.

I've always been aggressive and an underdog, and my dad was worried that I would always be that: constantly seeking inspiration from negativity.

I know what love is because I lost it at an early age.

What I remove from my writing is linear context. It's not really important to me, because it doesn't give me chills to see, "you flip the latch and the lock opens and then you can open the top of the chest and inside the chest is this." That doesn't give me chills, to think in that vein. So I've always kind of avoided it.

Recording is a lengthy process, but onstage it's completely different; tape is not running - life is running, and cannot be rewound.