You make your work and you can't ask for approval when you're doing it. Otherwise, it's going to be untruthful in some way.

Swans are majestic, beautiful looking creatures. With really ugly temperaments.

It wouldn't interest me to try to sound like Cop or something. It would be silly and soul-crushing.

I'm always trying to push myself into unfamiliar places with the music, sometimes without success, I have to admit. But I'd rather be there than relying on a style that people recognize and want to follow.

I'm just as comfortable performing solo with just my acoustic guitar and vocal as I am with a band. The main thing for me is that the performance remain rooted in the words and voice, that there be no place to hide.

The sexuality of children - there's a lot friction there. That tension interests me a lot.

I wanted to challenge myself and move into something new. I felt that using the name Swans and the sonic attitude that that engenders was what I needed to move forward musically, and it's led to lots of new things.