As a kid, image played a huge part. I'm sure most kids find the image of the guitarist exciting.

Even on guitars I've had misfortunes. I never used to clip the strings on my guitar and then one day I accidentally poked my right eye with the E-string. My eye just wouldn't stop tearing up and I could barely keep it open. The doctor said I didn't do any major damage, but I had to wear a patch for a little while. I still have a tiny red mark on my eyeball from it; I'm still not sure it's the same.

My setup for a live performance lately has been just guitar and synthesizer. Sometimes I only bring one. The guitar is in pretty bad shape and isn't sounding the same. Most of the time my live approach has been pretty different from recording.

My day job finds me in a double-bind often, and it's an ideal position for anyone interested in becoming highly reactive.

I have no interest in getting a rig that might clean up my sound or a delay pedal that might allow me to arpeggiate something bouncing off a string, and I don't plan on ever getting the grounding fixed on my guitar. I really like raw sounds.

It's weird - I can listen to a guitar player or a rock record over and over again and really enjoy whatever the guitarist is doing. But when I do it, after 30 seconds or so I get really frustrated and can't understand why I, or anyone else, would want to write songs.

I like to allow accidents to happen, not to force them, and yet not let myself feel miserable if they do happen, because they are so often the best things.