I usually always think of characters and sometimes the characters are a little bit invented, so it's nice to give these invented, blurry, personas an actually name. It makes me get closer to them or something like that. But they're not all real, they're weird amalgamations of reality.

A song is a song and, if I am emotionally connected to do it, whether it is sad or not sad, I am going to chase that song.

Lyrics need to be good, but they don't need to be obvious right away.

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.

I'm trying to figure out how to record at home because I have a tiny house and a seven-year-old and my wife also works at home. So I can't work in the house because she's trying to write, so I pitched a tent in the backyard. I'm literally trying to record in the tent.

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.

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