Another cultural thing that's really creepy. It's not like in the '60s, where there were definitely great high points of creativity where people were trying to outdo each other to be noticed even.

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

For most of the projects I've worked on, I've been entrusted with some degree of musical responsibility, even if it's just like coaching for vocals and stuff.

I think I've always been extremely conscious of the kind of empowerment that comes from realizing that you're in a position to express yourself. And the fact is that - and this is the thing about punk rock - that everyone is in a position to create culture, and that point has never been lost on me. To me, that's an important political aspect of doing this, and trying to live in a way that's about dialogue as opposed to like... spectacle.

You just realize that you have to be committed to this thing in this kind of world that we're in the more your support group dwindles and you start seeing your peers buying houses and getting corporate jobs. So that can be discouraging.

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

The Grammys thing doesn't even touch my world at all.