I think it's a misconception that metal's about anger, obviously.

When I was kid, they always used to tell me to keep notebooks. I look at my shelves now and it's just nothing but notebooks. And if I haven't gotten an idea but I have time to work, I'll pull one out and I bet there will be five or six sentences that will kick me off.

The fact that somebody's telling you a story about people who didn't exist doesn't make the experience of the story any less real in your heart and mind.

You're not really going to know what a place is like 'til you've lived there a few years - you sort of just have to go with your gut.

As important as politics are to me, the life and the spirit of people's emotions are much more important. People live real lives where they love and grieve and feel pain and joy and that is a whole separate sphere. All that political stuff, I believe in it strongly, but not as strongly as I believe that at some point you or someone is going to need a song to sit with and comfort them in a hard time.

One way you can get really close to God is to sin as hard as you can.

I grew up around some people whose parents toured a lot: tough on the marriage, tough on the kids.