I had traveled to Russia and met with Snowden, which was a pretty involved meeting that required encrypted communication and the like. And it was fascinating because of who he is and what he's done. And more so because what's going on between our two countries, Russia and the U.S., and to meet Edward Snowden in Russia was unforgettable.

On the one hand, how many people do you need to love you before you feel OK about yourself?

A very common thing these days is people show up and they ask us in the band to sign with a Sharpie right on their skin and they go get it tattooed the next day. Then they'll show up at another show and they'll have their tattoo.

I'd prefer 1,000 followers, friends, and fans that actually meant something, rather than 10 million that weren't engaged.

I thought it would be a great opportunity to work with someone that I really like and really respect as an artist [like Alessandro Michele].

Love isn't who you can see yourself with. It's who you can't see yourself without.

When you make music, you're in really direct contact with your fans out there, so you hear all kinds of stories.