Well, Freddie Mercury is a really huge rock star in my head. I've always thought he was just so tough and such an amazing entertainer, really a contradiction in many ways as well. So he was incredible.

My onstage persona really is a persona, you know, and really the moment I step onstage, it kind of kicks into gear.

Bands that I've loved over the years are the ones that have a certain myth around them.

I'm making sure to cover all the bases. Like, I've always wanted a leather jacket like Michael Jackson's in "Thriller" since I was a kid. I'm trying to incorporate a lot of elements of pop culture that I've always revered or was really into when I was young.

Being on the road with rock, its pretty much 90 percent guys.

I'm in the camp that needs to discover and take risks, sometimes it's with the promise of something special and new, sometimes it's to stay awake, either way it's much more stressful with all the uncertainty but worth the pain in the end.

Sophomore records are historically really difficult.