The only thing contrived is the production - you can over-produce to the point you kill a good idea, you can under-produce so that the song's amazing but you'll have folks at a radio station saying they won't play it, so there's this balance, and it has to be true.

I wish people would spend their money on hybrid cars.

I have to sing it every night, I can't get up on stage if it's some bullshit story.

I am not opposed to doing a side project, like Death Cab for Cutie, where it's completely different from my own band.

I have to shut down from other artists, because otherwise I end up giving them my stories.

I would rather put out two year-defining songs a year than flood the market with eight or nine songs.

So for every day that you're on this earth, for every minute that you have, the whole idea is doing nothing less than exactly what you feel you're supposed to do and squeezing every last drop out of life every day, regardless of the difficulties or trials that you face.