It's just like I get this identity crisis: my body doesn't want to write, my mind doesn't want to write. Nothing about me wants to write, but I force myself to sit there and try. Nothing happens.

I wasn't being critical of myself in the way I can normally be, and I was letting myself follow through with stuff. It was like a prolonged spontaneity.

The writing about what you know thing was a huge one. Not worrying so much about what people think. Just writing for myself and the band is enough.

When I'm in writing mode I tend not to listen to music. I usually have a gestation period before I start writing. When I'm listening, it usually happens on the road. So, we'd been listening to a lot of music on tour the year before and all that stuff sank in.

It's just like I get this identity crisis: my body doesn't want to write, my mind doesn't want to write. Nothing about me wants to write, but I force myself to sit there and try. Nothing happens.

I do love the marriage of words and music. I do love them in terms of little snapshots. But, I guess I understand my own internal world, so there's a well to dip into for me that's easier than getting an idea from reading the newspaper.

I'm still writing songs but leaving them a lot more open and not trying to control every nuance of it.