Trying to cope with the balance between home life and road life has been a theme in my music since early Red House Painters records.

I make music to process - because I have to, not for praise or accolades or reactions.

Anyone who has toured as long as I have, or who has traveled as extensively, and says that they've never cheated is lying.

We're all human and life is complicated.

I'm a boxing junkie, a serial-killer junkie, and a classical guitar junkie. All of these guys are great, poetic references.

Throughout my life, there's just periods when I write and periods when I don't. I don't feel like anything's really blocked. "Writer's block" sounds so dramatic and worrisome, and I don't worry about it. I know deep down that I'm a writer, and it's just a matter of time until it comes back, and when it does, it'll be good like it's always been.

Songs are puzzles - you get an intro, or maybe an end, but you gotta fill in the rest. Sometimes they come easy and sometimes they're a pain in the ass.