Somehow, you realize you can kind of do anything in music. You don't have to be good at a certain thing; you can just do whatever you want.

I drink wine on stage to sort of loosen my grip on reality a little.

We were always in the shadows of the stuff that was getting more attention. So people learned to listen to us slowly over time. And, frankly, we learned how to listen to ourselves. It takes us a long time to write a song that we all really like, so it makes sense that it would take a while for the listener to get there, too.

Weirdly, I was still trying to be the older brother, and trying to get him [Tom Berninger] to try to be more like me a little bit. Or not be more like me but... I was frustrated that he sometimes let things stop him in his life, and he let the wind get knocked out of his sails a few times.

Music has got a community vibe to it that pulls people together, and those communities are different in different places.

Not all the songs are real events, but I do write about stuff that is close to my heart and it comes out one way or another.

Once you do have a child you want to talk about every detail of it. And it is really boring to all your friends and it should be.