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

The goal is ecstasy, but I don't want to make some sort of saccharine pop music. I want to make something that's completely uncompromising: the best possible music ever made.

It's good that people come to the shows because there's nothing fashionable about Swans. Never has been, really. We've never been part of a scene. So the people that come are really there for the music. Fortunately, there's a lot of young people and a burgeoning female contingent, which is good as well.

I don't want to sound like everybody else.

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.

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

I don't throw my body down on the stage at all anymore because I'm sure I'd snap like a twig.