I really don't feel as connected to Heaven as I do to the ones where I was there from start to finish. And on this record I was there for every moment.

I felt like I could get away with calling it Black Hours. That could easily be the most depressing record ever written, but because there is this sense of fun throughout the whole thing I felt like I could get away with it. Like "5 A.M."; that song's in a minor key and I'm just wailing away and it could have been just wallowing depression, but it's not.

I feel really personally connected to all of the songs, so stepping back is really hard.

The great thing is that when you hire string players you always get really great players. I don't know why that is.

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.

I really don't feel as connected to Heaven as I do to the ones where I was there from start to finish. And on this record I was there for every moment.

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.