When I make music, I tend to make music that are really over the top.

People are like, 'Nothing you've done is as good as you did when you were younger.' And I'm like, 'You may be right.'

For me, music is about expressing the inexpressible, and as I get older, man, what I feel the need to express becomes less and less poignant to others.

I think live stuff is certainly stuff I enjoy doing. I do like performing for people and bringing it to people.

Essentially, 'Z2' ended up feeling the way that it should, but it was through a considerable amount of trial and error that it took to get there.

For me, the one thing I've got going for me in terms of my attributes as a musician is vision.

People say, 'Well, why don't you talk about being vegetarian?' And I'm like, 'People will find out.' The people who are interested in what I do and why I do it, being a vegetarian is a big part of that.

The risk a lot of times, in my mind - and I may be incorrect - the risk of challenging people directly with their beliefs is that society is such that there's too many of us, so a direct challenge automatically engages people's defenses.

I think, at the end of the day, that was really what the reward for production is for me, is being allowed to be a part of somebody else's musical vision for a while. Like Gwar. I got to do a Gwar record, right? That was great.

I have a real hard time with inter-personal relationships. I find it really taxing. Especially, like, friendships and being in bands.

I'll be the first to admit when I'm influenced by something.

I tend to find in my musical world people end up appearing, and I'm pretty good at being able to discern right away whether or not they are going to be appropriate based on their personality.

I think that the world is full of really, really good musicians, but that's not necessarily my motivation for having people involved. It's more how they contribute to the scene as a person.

The bottom line is music, for me, is an exhaust port for life, and if I have a chaotic year, then I'm gonna write a chaotic record, and that's what happened with 'Ziltoid,' with 'Z2.'

I like Canada for a number of reasons, politics and people and all that stuff aside. I was raised there, and I write music best when I'm in situations that I'm surrounded by nature, and when there's seasons.

What made Strapping Young Lad important, at least to me, was I was being honest about whatever was important to me at that time. In many ways, that musical process is there to resolve those issues, if you will.

There is no way I'll ever write an album for Avril Lavigne or Christina Aguilera. I just couldn't do it. There is no way I could ever do it because my musical process is about being directly involved with whatever I'm going through in life.

I love Strapping Young Lad. I'm incredibly proud of that band; I'm incredibly proud of everything we did.

I think that the pivotal point of me in terms of the choral stuff is that I was involved in this provincial choir at 16 or 17. We went and played in churches and convention centres. The music we got to do was so inspiring for me.

My lineage is partially Irish.

I come from a blue collar background.

Luckily, my creative juices are pretty much on tap. If I'm compelled to do something, I can go for it and get it done.

I don't think anything that I have done has been forced by commerce exclusively.

I don't have a lot of time for people who don't take care of their own problems. Everything that needs to be done takes effort.