I think in reading a few sentences of text you can just tell the tone, and that's something I love in prose writers.

The idea was that the record itself ['The Bones Of What You Believe' ] is a kind of labour of love for us - all our energy and all our passion and all the stuff we believed in is in that record, so you're kind of handing that off to other people, if that makes sense.

I'd rather work with a grassroots organization than in politics. I'm not sure I'd be the best politician because I don't think I'm good about tactfully tiptoeing around questions in the right way.

I have a personal Twitter for band purposes, but I don't use social media a lot. I fall in a weird age gap. I was on band message boards when I was 16, but I was on the early curve of Facebook. I did it for work when I worked in media, and I did it for the band, but I can't relate to the idea that you live your life online.

I feel like I would need to investigate and get some local tips. I think if I've learned anything from being on tour, it's that sometimes things you see in the guidebooks are stereotypically the best things to do, but there's no substitute for local knowledge on that stuff.

No matter how many people try, no matter how many fancy songwriters in Los Angeles try to break it down to a formula... to an extent, there isn't a science to writing great songs, I suppose. For me, it's always about melody - it doesn't matter what genre of music you're writing, if there's a strong melodic thing somewhere, whether that's in a vocal or in a guitar part or a sample. Something that sticks in your brain, that seems to be something that works.

I like the idea of a record being more than one thing emotionally - human beings go through so many emotions in one day, and I like those things sitting next to each other.