When I got to L.A. I woke up and I was losing my voice because of the dry air. It was like, "Oh my god, this is going to be Joe's Pub all over again."

I was staying at my friend's house and he told me about the drug Prednisone. It took me 14 years to discover it. And there are a lot of times that would have helped me out over the years. I can't believe I'd never even heard of it, though.

Ironically, I like working with people.

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.

When we got to the step when we'd normally start collaborating, we started having these talks about how it was not worth getting together. Getting together just didn't feel very inspired, and doing it alone did.

My friends just kept joking about all the horrible physical side effects [of Prednisone ]. I can only imagine that something that works that well has got to be bad for you.

The funny thing is that the studio that we recorded in was the same studio that Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole used to warm up their voices in before they went across the street to CBS Radio. The owner has preserved it exactly the way it was in 1925. It was such a perfect coincidence that we were doing music inspired by that stuff in that room. It was incredible.