The studio's a collaborative environment. I just try to let people bring their own ideas to the songs and see what happens.

Young people like to feel self-righteous, like they're on the right side of things.

The possibility of disaster remains horrific to me. Like when you know everything's about to go wrong in a way that's not controllable or knowable.

I'm so disconnected from an indie-rock community that I am the hermit people used to guess I was.

People always talk about good time rock and roll, Chuck Berry or whatever, like this liberating force for feeling good. But what I need in my life is to be liberated into feeling bad. Not sad. I have plenty of sad. What I need is a place where I can spray anger in sparks like a gnarled piece of electrical cable. Just be mad at stuff and soak in the helplessness.

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

I wrote short stories when I was a teenager, but they weren't any good and I kinda knew it.