People always ask me 'do you think there should be more bands doing political music?' and I say 'absolutely not.'

My two interests are spirituality and politics. I would mesh them in some way; maybe try to figure out the politics of spirituality, or the spirituality of politics. Or maybe come up with this really crazy naive solution for the end of civilization.

The living ideas of the dead are more powerful and effective than the dead ideas of the living.

I like African music, and I'm a huge Ravi Shankar fan.

Sometimes a good love song can change the world and create positive energy more than any political song can.

As an artist, you never want to write the same song again, you always want to challenge yourself to writing in a different way.

Nations are like people. Once you understand the interactions between nations, it's easy to understand why things are done, in terms of foreign policy, in a certain way. But nations are not like people in the sense that we are cumulatively represented by others - and their interpretations of what our interests are may not be the same as what they really are. And that's what's dangerous, even in a democracy.