For a long time I didn't want to do a solo thing, but there comes a point where everyone else is going outside of The Strokes and The Strokes filtering process.

The thing for me is I never had this burning desire to do a solo record my whole life.

We're so quick to point out our own flaws in others.

It's like an inner struggle for me, between saying I don't give a **** and trying to make it work. You want to do the right thing, but I'm sick of people thinking I'm difficult.

Don't you dare get to the top and not know what to do.

I'm really grateful. But I never had the rock star dream. I thought it would be cool to be a modern-day composer.

Songwriting is hard - it's so easy to fall into the same traps. It's not like I wake up and songs flow out of me.