Well, my dad was into music, but he wasn't into me being into music. In my house when I was a kid, when I was real young, my dad wanted us all to play sports, and we were jock-like. We had a lot of money. And my brother was sort of the light of our family, and he was a good athlete. And I wasn't a very good athlete, but I tried to be. And then when I was 15 my dad went bankrupt, and we moved to Houston. And I went with him, but then I went back to Portland.

Hemingway was very sparse in his writing. Kris Kristofferson is like that. He can take four words and say it all.

I like to make up songs. And it's my opinion that all these songs mean a lot to me, but that doesn't mean I think everything needs to leave the house. If it helps me through my life and doesn't bore anybody in theirs.

Sometimes I'll put a lie for philosophical reasons, and sometimes to make the story shorter.

Words and music equally important. But the way to get what I'm looking for is different in each case. I have something specific I'm hoping for with the words and the music, and the way to get the words the way I like them is to take a long time, and the way to get the music I like it is to not let me or anyone else get in the way of it.

I don't know much about that whole grunge thing.

Anyone with a point of view loves it when they sway someone who disagrees with their point of view. I don't think that's a noble endeavor, though. And I don't think, as an endeavor, you really ever have a chance.