Cut the crap. Just don't try to be anything that you aren't, have ambition but when it comes to lyrics especially just be honest and write from the heart almost to an awkward degree, at least that's what works for me.

Try to overcome your doubt. Believe you are beautiful. Look at yourself through someone else's green eyes. Believe someone out there will find you and kiss your skin until you can feel it blister with the heat. Believe in something bigger than your problems and you will be saved.

I like to play music that people can feel deeply but it's also interesting to listen to - a nice balance between cathartic and pop music.

Don't decide that you're going to be a writer or musician and just expect it to happen because it's a big gamble and a lot less predictable than a conventional job. But you do increase the likelihood of success by working as hard as you can and holding yourself to the highest standard you can muster.

You have to compensate for the luck thing by working as hard as you can and doing the very best you can do.

In comics, the writer is also the director in a certain way. So if this were a film, you wouldn't tell the cinematographer to make a good fight scene while you go and get a cup of coffee.

It's healthy for a band to become slightly less relevant