I'm more interested in pulling out strands of joy from both myself and the audience. I'm not saying the music or songs are "light," just that when they're performed with the correct commitment it's a source of real pleasure, for me anyway.

I'm the band leader. That's not to say that the other people are my minions - they all put in a tremendous amount of personality, and push the music in ways I would never expect.

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'm pretty confident that people are going to come along for the ride. If they don't, tough.

I'm a producer in the old-school way - not just some slacker working on Pro Tools.

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

I like loud electric guitars because I like how you can just lose your entire being in the sound.