I usually kind of can't wait until my records leak. Back in the day, you could give people tapes, but you can't do that anymore, because it would be available to everyone on the planet within an hour.

The South actually has a very strong tradition of activism. The civil rights movement came from down here! It was black activists demanding that their voices be heard. People say these are red states. No they're not!

My work is more important than I am. I'm just some guy.

People don't tend to notice, but in the past 10 years especially there's been a lot of growth in how I write songs and what goes into them. You can listen to Mountain Goats from 1991 to 2007 and never hear a seventh chord. In 2007 or 2008, I started working on the piano to grow as a songwriter. I started throwing major sevens in and sixes and more interesting stuff.

I get nostalgic about having lived in Ames, Iowa, even though being a vegetarian in Iowa is not fun.

From a very young age, I was the kind of kid you can just put anywhere and I'd still find stuff to be stoked about.

I make up stories that take place in real space with real people. If I could convert this into a technique for experimental novels, I might really be onto something.