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.

Making those CDs, signing them, numbering them, packing them. It takes hundreds of hours, but it's worth it because I'm able to do the thing I love.

You find ways to push yourself into the sound through repetition. It doesn't stay the same. It morphs constantly.

I never wrote poetry, just prose. I don't really consider songwriting a form of poetry either. The words are important, of course, but they're dependent on the music.

I went to art school and never thought I'd be a musician, but then punk rock came along in the late 70s and kind of ruined my life. So I quit art school to get involved in music and I've been doing it ever since.

I used to routinely break my ribs doing stupid things onstage, but I have a healthy fear of breaking my bones now.

Playing an old record doesn't interest me at all. It's exactly the opposite of what I want to do.