I write all the time, and I write a lot of songs, but before I started putting out records those songs always just ended up on stuff that I did with The Babies.

I had a lot of jobs in New York. I worked in a café and I did bike delivery and I was a mover. And I babysat, which was really cool in some cases and really insane in others.

A great day on tour would be if I would say a two-hour drive, so you can wake up and you don't have to leave right away. You can go get breakfast somewhere nice that someone recommends in the town, and it turns out to be good. Then you can kind of check out the town, someone might recommend you to a cool thrift store, a record store, a nice park or something. You can have some time to yourself.

There was never a thought of career in my brain ever for anything.

One of my first observations about New York that I was so fascinated with was that you'd be at a stoplight and you're with everybody; there's a homeless dude and some weird celebrity and a cop and someone who looks exactly like you. You're on foot and everyone is at street level and eye-to-eye. I think that's what's special about New York, because there's no hierarchy, there's no discrimination.

I guess now I view music as my career. I want to do it forever, regardless of whether or not it's my means of living.

I didn't understand how to get a practice space or buy gear - I never thought I could do any of that - let alone get in front of people and play the songs.