My older sister encouraged me from early on and bought me one of the first guitars I had. She listened to all of the crappy songs that I wrote when I was 8 years old and encouraged me to keep doing it.

People's real hopes and dreams can be distorted and misdirected and packaged until you're not sure what you really want or what you even really need.

Songwriting is a very mysterious process. It feels like creating something from nothing. It's something I don't feel like I really control.

The songs are not necessarily autobiographical. A lot of songs are a combination of influences. It might be some part of my life, or something I've felt, or something somebody's told me. It all comes together.

I don't want someone to squeeze me, that might take away my life. Just want someone to hold me, and we'll rock through the night.

As a child I always had a sense of social conditions and political situations. I think it had to do with the fact that my mother was always discussing things with my sister and me - also because I read a lot.

I learn all these things about the record talking about it after it's finished.