My first record I ever got was 'Full Moon Fever.' My dad gave me a copy when I was maybe nine years old or something. And I listened to the heck out of that record. I loved that record.

I grew up in Italy, so for me, Naples pizza is the only type of pizza that there really is.

My favorite video game when I was a kid was this game called 'Metroid' and the main character of 'Metroid' was Samus. Samus has this body armor suit, helmet and everything except at the end of the game, the helmet comes off and it was revealed that Samus was actually a woman.

Society doesn't portray transsexual people in a very positive light.

I was always attracted to women.

If I want someone to recognize the gender identity I feel, I'd have to ask for that. I can't assume people will know how I'd like to be treated on their own.

Growing up, I never had a role model to show me that you can be trans and live a happy life. I hope that I can be that source of hope for someone out there who's struggling.

I'm totally fine with myself. It's the other people I run into out there who are so hung up on gender. The way it trips them up is their problem, not mine.

Being able to write about love through a trans lens is something that's not really represented when it comes to love songs.

I've always wanted to be a writer, and I've kept journals since I was eight years old.

I recognize that I'm in a band, and part of being in a band is doing interviews, and I do have a platform so I want to use that platform to talk about things that are real.

I'm just me and if me being honest about who I am and putting myself out there in that way makes connections with people and helps people out, that's just repaying the favor of music because that's what music does for me.

People don't have to understand a language to understand the emotion and sentiment behind a song.

Striving to make music that empowers people as opposed to making them feel like they're being beaten down every single day is so important.

What I learned early on, is that it's not really fun to do things alone.

There were definitely songs in the past that were me dealing with living this gender dysphoria, and sometimes they were really direct and no one picked up on it - but oftentimes, they were more veiled in metaphor.

My earliest memories are of dysphoria.

Hormone replacement therapy does not change or affect your voice. And I have no problem with my voice: I really like my singing voice, I don't feel any dysphoria with my talking voice.

The key to being a great band that lasts is always going to be making sure you write really good songs and put on really good shows.

It would be weird enough just being in a band trying to date. It makes it harder being a parent. And it makes it really interesting when you're trans.

I had definitely stopped watching MTV by 2000.

Fred Durst gave my first wife a tattoo of a star on the bottom of her foot when she was 14 years old in his trailer home. So that was my first introduction to Limp Bizkit.

The idea of Ryley Walker not ever listening to Leonard Cohen is like me going out to dinner and them telling me that they've never had spaghetti or whatever.

I'm a musician and I listen to music all the time. If there's something out there where someone would tell me that I should listen to, I would listen to it.

I just want to play shows and write songs and make music. That's what feels good.

The period of time between when you're done with a record and when you start touring is the worst period of a time in a musician's life.

Maybe you don't know who a person is just based on the way they dress. I know that's a really simple thing you're supposed to be taught really young, but sometimes you can forget.

I've been keeping tour journals since I was 17 years old.

I had some real health complications with my HRT - hormone replacement therapy.

That's one of the biggest fears a lot of trans people have if they decide to come out, that they're making themselves unlovable and that they'll never have a relationship again.

I dealt with depression for my whole life. That's not something that was caused by being trans.

I want to be an involved parent in my daughter's life and do the things that other parents do, like go to the PTA meetings.

Saying to someone 'I'm a transsexual' is the most empowering thing I've ever felt in my whole life.

As an artist, you're just observing the world around you. So much is overwhelming and it's all so inescapable that it can't all speak to general cultural statements.

I guess I've been existing in my own head a lot.

I guess I get a little impatient and frustrated when people ask what 'Manic Depression' is about.

When I'm on tour, people see me in one way, but in normal life I doubt people even recognize me.

A lot of what keeps me going is wanting to be better, thinking I'm not good enough.

Most people I know stopped talking to me after I came out.

Every artist has the song where they say, 'I wish I could have written a song as good as this,' but they don't feel like they've done it yet. It pushes you to evolve.

The first record we made, we recorded and mixed in a day. The second record was recorded and mixed in a week. The third was recorded and mixed in a month, and 'New Wave' was mixed and recorded in six months. It was an epic project.

In a perfect world, in my opinion, 'they,' 'them,' and 'theirs' would be the pronouns that everyone would use.

I want to write songs, and I would like to play and sing them. I'm not a politician; I'm not a comedian. I hate coming up with bits to do between songs.

For most people who are transitioning, surgery isn't really a financial reality. So to place these goals of 'in order to be happy with my body, I must do this thing' is really damaging to yourself.

Manic depression in general is something that runs in my family, and it's something that I battle with.

I think the hardest part for musicians is what a wide gulf of time there is between when you decide to sober up and when you have the ability to navigate being social and having relationships and being in a band and having friends while sober.

I've gotten to do some really amazing things, gone to some really amazing places, and just have some really unique experiences. And if I have one regret looking back it's that - not a regret even, because I think that's kind of labeling depression as something you can control - but I just wish I would have been able to enjoy it more fully.

I have gender dysphoria and body dysmorphia. I don't like to see pictures of myself.

My least favorite thing about being in a band is photo shoots and video shoots. I like writing songs.

I sleep with a notebook next to me, and most nights I sleep with my guitar next to me.