You write these songs which are really dear to you about your family or friends, loved ones, and then you get this call, and they say, 'It's perfect for two vampires making out in the back of a car.' It's some random TV show, and so I say, 'Oh, yeah, perfect - that's what I meant it for.'

I'm a '90s music kid.

Growing up in Eugene, Oregon, there was everything from The Notorious B.I.G. to Weezer playing in my car.

I was an English major in college, so I really liked spoken word and poetry; it was what I did before I wrote music.

I'm actually named Matthew William Kearney: my middle name is named after my grandfather.

I've always sought to get after something that's foundational in people. That comes through my faith, through my belief in life, through trying to hit something that's true every time. I think that's really where you move people, when you touch on something that's true, that's not based on fluff or based on a moment or a movement.

Even on tour, where I perform songs from 'City Of Black And White,' I still do songs from 'Nothing Left To Lose.' I never turned my back on that material. On some albums, you change - that's all. The trick is to follow your heart and do what feels right.

I think coming from the Northwest is something that's born in your blood. On my mom's side, I'm, like, a sixth-generation Oregonian. My family came over in the covered wagons, 'Oregon Trail'-video-game style. Maybe the pioneer mentality runs in my blood because they were all pioneers.

Songs like 'Learn To Love Again' and 'Rochester' and some of the more gut-wrenching ones deal with the pain of the younger times of your life... trying to make sense of some the stuff we probably all went through.

It's been awesome going indie. I don't need to be on a major label. I love not having to walk into a specific radio person's office to try to convince someone to play my songs. At the end of the day, it's more work, but I've discovered that I like to get my hands dirty.

Hopefully, reading and being around great literature inspires me to write songs, but I'm not sure about that.

Owl City is exactly as you'd imagine him. It's hard to have much on him. He's like a frightened bunny. I feel like if you yelled at him, he'd just dart to a corner of the room.

Paul Simon is the king!

I think, in a lot of ways, hip-hop is interesting to me because it's like the modern-day folk music.

From my experience, I've been honest about who I am and what I believe and the motivation behind my music. But I've played it in arenas that are for all people. I've pretty much stuck to that model my whole career.

When my first record came out, it was in the middle of the real Muse, Keane, British thing, and that beat-driven thing wasn't really that cool at the moment.

I love Bruce Springsteen's writing, but I grew up on '90s hip hop, like Tribe Called Quest.

With 'City of Black & White,' I wanted a record that would make you feel good, that would sort of take you up in its hand and sweep you along.

I can't help but do things my own way.

There are a lot of great recording artists, like Jack White and Jack Johnson, who stay confined inside a very small box, but I'm more like Bon Iver, who recorded an album with programmed drums, and the next record was totally organic. I get that.

I don't spend afternoons practicing my guitar to get better. I do read, though, to get inspiration for my lyrics.

The criticism people could have of my music maybe is that it's somewhat schizophrenic at times. And if you don't like that, it could bother you.

You go to a Springsteen show, and half of the people are there to party and forget about their cares, and they're being drawn to this visceral experience. And then the other half, you know, has lived and died with his 'Nebraska' album and considers him one of the greatest poets.

When we tour, there's always this unique quality to every town you visit... Touring, you get a sense of a collective identity for different cities. That's one of the things I love about my job.

I've always been a writer. I've always done writing or spoken-word, hip-hop stuff with my friends.

The first album was literally the first 12 songs I've ever written.

It's a job, and it's challenging. But I love music and creating. That's why I got into music.

Generally, the songs that are the scariest ones are the ones that people connect to.

Minneapolis has always been a very special place for me.

Being from Oregon, it's part of who I am.

'Young Love' is about falling in love and dealing with your past so you can move forward. I wanted it to be a clear record.

I love Michigan.

I've never shaped or crafted my music for any specific group of people. Whoever connects with it is fine with me. I don't care where they come from.

I was always into poetry and writing. So the urgency of spoken word is something that really has always appealed to me.

My goal is to try to avoid a genre.

When I first started writing music, it was to express that. I was trying to find God and trying to find meaning in my life. That's what my music was about. It wasn't to entertain.

I love what I do. I love playing music.

I would sit in my dorm room and write songs. I loved it. I was learning to sing and play guitar. I was becoming a musician. I was the beginner who somehow could write a song.

I didn't know music would end up being my job, but I loved it so much I wanted to do it every day.

New Yorkers are historically tough crowds.

I read about two reviews early on when my first record came out, and it just freaked me out, good and bad, so I've never really kept up with that side of it.

More than any other instrument, the relationship between an acoustic guitar and a microphone is super-important. The kind of mics that you use and your placement of the mics to the guitar can radically alter your sound.

I've never been one to learn scales and do exercises. Maybe I'm lazy, but I just don't take to that kind of thing. Learning other people's songs is enjoyable, and my fingers tend to go to new places because I'm not playing my music, the stuff that comes naturally to me.

I think the way I love talking about my faith is through my story because I think that's all we have to work with sometimes. I think it's the most moving way to share your story, too - is what you know, what you've seen and heard and tasted and felt.

Golf was big in my family.

My dad was a scratch golfer growing up. When I'm on the road, I always bring my clubs with me.

I think I have always made really beat-driven pop-rock records.

Getting married and really digging in with another human being can point out your greatest strengths and your greatest weaknesses.

I am a micromanager, and I love being involved in every detail of my life, but in the big picture, you realize how little control you have. 'Air I Breathe' is about those moments of surrender where you get to something that is bigger than you, and you don't have answers for it.

I started writing music in a season of my life where people were telling me I wasn't defined by mistakes, and God really loved me and was fighting for me, and there was a journey to be had with that. And I don't know of a more important message.