When I was living in Boston I worked in this store that played the college radio station. I had to listen to it all day, and I didn't care for most of it.

The Flaming Lips have been on Warner Bros. forever, and certainly everything I heard growing up was on a major label in some way, from the Cure to Radiohead to Bjork.

I think when you've been in a band for a really long time, sometimes you don't appreciate what's good about yourself. It's easy to play something and get too focused on some small detail. It's helpful to have somebody around who can say, "No, that was good." Just so you don't get too lost or forget what you do. You need somebody you really trust who has great taste.

What I miss [about church] is being forced to be in community with people that aren't the same as me.

If I was a cabinetmaker or a commercial fisherman, it would be the same question - how to connect to my world. The job we do affords us the opportunity to have people listen to what we say. But a lot of people have a similar situation: They're trying to find a way to do some good.

A lot of artists write about the same things their whole career.

I don't think the emotional quality is the defining quality of the music but it's definitely something that people have picked up on a lot