To me, it's always been a challenge to look for the light: to look for those spaces in your heart where there is hope and faith and try to embrace that rather than crush it. I've spent so many years trying to crush those feelings of hope, and I certainly succeeded for quite a while.

L.A. is always great. There's something special about L.A. And New York, for me, because it's home. There's nothing quite like walking onstage at Madison Square Garden.

I had a few brushes with death, where I nearly chose to go. The final one in 1996 did it for me. I suddenly had that feeling that I wasn't indestructible. There was no big white light experience, I just felt this complete blackness and a huge voice inside me saying, 'This is not right.'

Some struggle is healthy. If you can embrace it rather than be angry, you can use it as your pilot light.

I've been obsessed with this kind of visual storytelling for quite a while, and I try to create material that allows me to explore it.

I always believed that I could make it or I would never have spent so many years trying to get here.