I spent the '80s in the Soviet Union and when I came to America it was '89 and I was in an immigrant bubble and we didn't have MTV or cable, so I kind of discovered the '80s when I was already older, maybe in college. And I continued to have this romantic obsession with all those films and there's this sound I hear in my head and it's kind of this bittersweet romantic, dark sound.

I have to work hard and organize myself so that I'm present and not a slacker.

I'd always wanted to work in the studio and experiment with sounds. Things that I'm really influenced by and that I love are like The Beatles and Radiohead, and all those records by bands whose music is really involved.

It's a privilege to work with an artist that you really care for.

This is the way I want to die. Torn apart by angry fans who want me to play a different song.

I think both you and I, we live in a world of fiction and stories.

A man destined to hang can never drown