I was writing music when we finished the last Walkmen record, Heaven, and a few of these songs may have even been started before Heaven was done. With The Walkmen we all wrote a lot of stuff alone, but then we'd start collaborating with each other.

The first ones I played were in New York at Joe's Pub; I played four shows, but I did something like 30 interviews and a couple radio shows in the mornings and completely blew out my voice. It kind of sucked.

When I finally got to 30, I'll admit that there was a little anxiety, but at the same time I actually really liked it.

I think I got interested in singing without being too over-the-top. I was more calmly singing the words - which I thought had really come a long way. I thought they were worth singing clearly.

Everyone in Seattle is a total pussy when it comes to snow. The whole city shut down, the place looked like an apocalyptic movie.

I never want to travel while I'm on vacation anymore. The only vacations I want to take now are ones where I just go and sit somewhere.

I write songs now I look at my strengths and I start there. In The Walkmen, we'd start with the live stuff.