So many bands write about the same s - -. It gets real boring after a while. I want to keep it fresh and sign about things like the birth of my daughter, about seeing the world- things that aren't always said in metal.

I think just having a gift and being able to do something creative and having people like it and enjoy it... I'm in a really, really cool place here. A lot of people try to do this and might get a little bit of success, but we've been lucky. We're going to take that and try and go as far as we can with it and just do the best that we can.

I think being a frontman is the greatest job and I get to do this every day.

I think the general population of people just don't think. It's actually proven that people just use the part of the brain they have to, to get through the day. They don't sit there and ponder over the big picture stuff.

You only live once, for a very short time. So make every second divine.

This time, we went up to Big Bear for 3-4 weeks and sequestered ourselves writing this album [ "The Black Crown"].

I try to do things positive on my throat, but a couple things are negative like smoking and drinking heavily. I really don't know. There's no particular thing that I do that's beneficial - it just kinda works. I guess I'd say warming up every day before a performance is the biggest thing.