No matter who weaves in and out of your life, regardless of the quality of those deep friendships and familyships, I'm the only common denominator at this point who's been with me the whole time. And there's this sense of trying to make sense of that ultimate solitude. It's not a negative or even a positive. It's just a fact.

When you say something or sing something enough times, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's almost like casting spells. I don't mean necessarily in the flighty, 'I'm going to go buy a cloak with a hood now' way.

I'm a nostalgic person and I really like rehashing and digging around the mental trunks.

I guess there are a lot of people out there that think they're supposed to define themselves in isolation, but that's not necessarily the case.

So, I'm on Sesame Street, walking around with all these monsters, Elmo and his buddies, a whole bunch of chickens, a whole bunch of penguins and a number four dancing about. It was just pure joy, simple, ridiculous fun, stupid joy. There's no irony. Sesame Street is just a crazy great place to be.

And of course, pop music is all about memorability and simplicity and positive messages and a little dash of joy.

There's real potency in metal. Metal fans love metal as if it's a nation they would fight for. It's not diluted by pop culture.