The fact of picking up an instrument and writing a song and expressing yourself publicly has a powerful political dimension.

I'm no good at predicting what will endure with people. I only know what speaks to me.

Stage presence is not something I spend a whole lot of time thinking about. On the one hand, I do, because I have, like, favorite front-people and I know what's excited me to see in a band. But I can't be David Yow [Jesus Lizard frontman] and still play guitar.

Tim [Omundson] is just so wonderfully delicious. He has the sexiest beard on television. He's such a fabulous actor, and a great character.

When I run across something that feels like a real eye-opener, it's gonna have an influence on me forever.

I'd been in a couple situations where I'd seen bands realize that they didn't have to get a good take in order to get something that sounded like a song. The musicians are there and they don't quite have it together, and then the engineer says, "Oh! That's okay, I'll just cut and paste the verse!"

To say someone is a producer... it's kind of a slippery term.