If certain songs become popular enough to the point where I'll be playing them the rest of my life, I don't want them all to dwell on the same down moment that I'll have to keep reliving.

Once I got a record contract, and I took my songs which weren't quite finished, or maybe they were a good idea, maybe they weren't. I took them into the studio and developed them. They came to life and they evolved... and they're great.

When I was 21, I got into a motorcycle accident while traveling in Europe and I had to lie around a lot in the aftermath, which was really the first time in my life that I became really focused and inspired to write.

I want to try to keep my life the same.

I can't say I want to earn a particular award or sell a certain number of records, because even if I do that, the satisfaction only lasts five minutes.

The flattery is nice, but awards don't add up to writing quality songs.