It's hard to convince people when you haven't done anything that the things you're working on are worthy of spending their time and money on: like, "Oh man, I write really great songs, I promise!"

I've never been one like, "Oh, these are my songs" - that was done out of necessity, because there was no one to help. I have 90 percent of it written; that way, we can go on the road, be tight and have it ready to go for next year. I know I said I didn't have a grand design, but I think it's going to be like Marvin Gaye meets The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

It's impossible to escape from religion anywhere you are in the States.

I'm 24, and a lot of people my age grew up listening to bands that were big and making it from around here. I was going to Flaming Lips and Chainsaw Kittens concerts when I was 12, and getting my mind blown at a young age... and maybe for people in bands, there's irreparable damage from those kind of things, and it turns out weirder bands.

We're not clever enough to picture something and say, "Our music is going to be Jackson Pollock meets Oprah Winfrey" and then go about achieving that. I was in a band called Olive Loaf - it was the first thing I ever did when I first started playing the guitar when I was 12, and it was sort of like Ween, although I didn't know Ween even existed at the time.

Can you imagine in 1968 some band being like, "Vietnam is the place to be!"

I've always thought, "I could probably write one of these country songs and send them to these places and make up this fake country band. Wouldn't it be awesome to have a completely parallel career and have nobody know about it?" I think I could get away with it. I'd be the guy from Oklahoma with country cred.