Actual patriotism has to do with loving a place enough to try and improve it.

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

I find myself a lot more open to bands if I just hear their song. It gives you an opportunity to engage with the thing itself and not be overwhelmed by everything else that surrounds it.

Being in a rock band, I feel a certain responsibility to have a weird haircut. I mean, who else gets to do that?

Major labels just lost their way. It's like the housing bubble. They lost a sense of the fundamentals.

When I was younger, bands helped me connect to part of my humanity; bands that had nothing to do with anything political helped to form me. There's a correlation in that: If people can connect to music, maybe they can connect to each other.

Actual patriotism has to do with loving a place enough to try and improve it.