My mother and I were on welfare and food stamps until I was 18, so I've always had this ethos of, like, 'try and make a little bit of money now because you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.'

What sounds good on the radio is really loud kick drums and loud snare drums, when everything's bombastic and in your face. It's the equivalent of a houseguest who screams all the time.

Though in many of its aspects this visible world seems formed in love, the invisible spheres were formed in fright.

Dogs have boundless enthusiasm but no sense of shame. I should have a dog as a life coach.

Many of my friends back in New York and elsewhere have a glib or dismissive attitude toward Los Angeles. It's a place of strip malls and traffic and not much else, in their opinion.

People love their favorite records. And I aspire to make a record someone might be able to love in that way.

I don't sleep very well when I travel. And as a result, I tend to be awake in cities when everyone else is asleep.