As a songwriter it's kind of hard to listen to your own stuff with clarity.

I really enjoy not getting in a car and running errands on bikes.

Call it holistic or holographic thinking, it's been quite effective imagining the world's problems are all right in front of you on a smaller scale with your band. You deal with those relationships, and that's where real major change begins.

Every year is filled with good times and fights and struggles and misunderstandings. All of it adds up to being in a band over a long time.

I think if you exercise, your state of mind - my state of mind - is usually more at ease, ready for more mental challenges. Once I get the physical stuff out of the way it always seems like I have more calmness and better self-esteem.

I've always related music to those moments when someone turns you loose on something and they haven't told you how to do it.

Right, those relationships with your parents and family are the hardest to figure out, and the same patterns get carried into a band situation.