The first time I ever found Paste I thought somebody just might have finally made a magazine using only the contents of my brain. I read it cover to cover every single month.

Therapy really did prepare me to become an empathic songwriter. As far as advice goes, it's a matter of self understanding first.

That old adage, that "music is a universal language", is really true. Even if all of the lyrics are understood, they seem to connect with it really well and in some ways, more so.

I'm not Metallica, you can tell that I'm really not that angry in most of my songs.

I want to be very authentic when I perform, because I feel like I owe that to people listening. You can't go through the motions on music like this. You are making people feel a certain way, that you are not feeling yourself. It's like saying "I want you guys to cry, but I don't really care," which isn't right.

I am definitely not listening to anything remotely close to my music, at least not on a nice day.

The old adage, that "music is a universal language", is really true.