Quite frankly, I'm a little bit bored with fucking mass-marketed, auto-tuned, hellacious music. I still find the rock and roll album can be an amazing thing. It seems to me we've become a very cultish band, and the people that like us feel an emotional connection and feel like they know us, and I think that's high praise.

We want to offer something slightly different � music that comes from inside people.

We've turned our back on that sort of writing. Bands with great first albums always release a second album about touring, and that's just embarrassing.

We all have different kinds of tastes and thoughts about what we are all about because the music is such a personal thing for us. ... I think we have always made an effort to make our lyrics build a bridge between the personal experiences we have and the personal experiences of someone coming to a show. That people say it has helped them in some way puts the highest meaning in the band. We feel we are out there making a living doing what we love, and it is affecting people.

We're not using our front yard, but we're paying rent, so we turned it into a music venue.

Country music pretty much caters to the American family.