When I'm afraid of something, I'm going at it twice as hard. I don't believe any fear can be conquered by avoiding it.

I thought 'Gutterflower' was a really good record, but the album before that got so big that everyone expected us to go through that again.

I no longer feel the pressure of trying to write hits for the radio anymore.

I've taken a lot of crap. That's just the way life is. There are going to be writers who like you and writers who despise you.

I wouldn't start writing songs like 'Name' all the time just because I thought that's what people wanted to hear. I'll write a song in the same vein because it's what I want to write.

I think we'd sold a couple hundred records with our first album, maybe 1,000 at the most.

I write about everyday people, everyday lives.

It's nice to see bands you could see at a bar finally get a chance.

The business of making music is changing so radically because of the Internet. It's become a lot more democratic in one respect, but in another respect there's no one left to guide and mentor young bands.

I got really sick of playing just, like, 'Bop-bop-bop-bada-bop-bop-bada-rapa-pah.' Just playing that 190-beats-per-minute punk-rock songs, I didn't feel it anymore. And I always loved melody - when you looked back on those early records, there's always a hook buried in there somewhere.

I have this morbid fascination with being completely alienated from everybody, and a lot of the time I really do feel that way.

There's always those few people that are like, 'Why don't you play any of the material off your first two records?' And I'm like, 'For the same reason that I don't play with G.I. Joe dolls anymore.' It's like, 'I'm a grown-up.' I wrote that music when I was a kid.

Yeah, I really like that band Deerhunter a lot.

I need a long, cold winter.

Everybody was a democrat where we grew up. It was a blue-collar town and the democrats represented the working class and the unions. But very, very super-conservative Catholic, very proud immigrant community, very stoic.

A little renovation and reinvention is a positive thing.

Usually albums are frontloaded with singles.

It's a crazy world!

I really love Tegan and Sara.

Punk was key to the early part of me playing guitar. I was really into melodic punk-rock. I related to punk more than Lynyrd Skynyrd or Yes or Van Halen.

I get nervous around famous people.

You know what the most amazing luxury problem in the world is? When you've got a bunch of hits you have to play. That means the show's going to have to be a little longer.

I just want my daughter to be respectful and nice to people. I want her to understand the importance of being humble.

I was a bartender, a hot-dog vendor, a cook, sold magazine subscriptions.