Not everybody relates to pain, but if you can watch other people playacting it, you can absorb some of that vibe. It's like watching horror movies - you want to have the experience, but in a safe environment.

I seem to get the best work when I'm angry and depressed and alienated.

Take dance music: I like enough of it and its history to be able to say a word or two about this or that record, but I'm nobody's authority.

I think listening to a lot of Lou Reed when I was a teenager is what encouraged me to just sing however felt good to me.

What's scary is the unknown, the stuff you can't put your finger on.

You always feel like your 18-year-old self in some sense. And that's what walking through New York on a June evening feels like - you feel like it's Friday and you're 17 years old.

[Dennis] Etchison would write stories that were just punch lines at the end. You wouldn't realize something horrific was happening until the last paragraph.