I'm not really a goal-oriented guy. I started doing the Mountain Goats just for the sheer hell of it.

There's this idea that there was a point in our childhood when we were in some way better than we are now and we should try to hang on to that.

Good things never last, bad things never die.

I'm finding things out about myself as a person - as a writer - as I write, and so are the people who listen to what I do. But they have this additional aspect of how they take the stuff that I do, and so it broadens the work and it creates this strange connection. It's really a way of strangers communicating through this third thing, which is a body of work. But really, I know it's a cliché to say I write for myself, but I write for myself.

Adulthood is interesting to adults. But I would never want to write about stuff I dont feel everybody can connect to.

I always want to try and see what the appeal is in anything. It's the healthiest and most honest approach.

I enjoy hearing people who are good at their instruments and who've found a distinctive voice.