A friend of mine jokes that I have a painstaking royalty complex. Like maybe I was a duke in a past life.

I don't fear anybody... at all.

I enjoy singing my songs in front of people. I enjoy being involved in making the artwork for albums and stupid stuff like that.

I've written some great things. That's a gift, but there's consequences. Yeah, you get this great work, but you suffer. You really, really suffer.

The first four and a half years was me in the studio every day, writing songs for other people. I had jobs, too - eleven jobs. I worked at Kinko's, Fatburger, Subway - I was a sandwich artist - and I was a claims processor at Allstate Insurance.

Of course awards matter.

I'm extremely compassionate, loving, all of those warm fuzzy things, but the outer shell doesn't project that all the time.