There's a great freedom in writing by yourself. You can write anything you want.

There are some things that I write that I know are personal in a way, or the gag is so obscure that it's just for me, and there's other things that could basically be for anybody or be anything, at least until the lyrics start to get written.

With my writing, what I want to do is humanize the young people I write about.

It's great fun to play with a really good band.

Sell yourself first, if you want to sell anything.

What gets people into trouble with records now is that they want to build something up without substantial musical ideas. Without that as a foundation, you can add all the layers of sound you want - it's still going to sound like a mess.