“I need a little criticism while I make a record so that I kind of feel like: okay, I know that I’m doing the best that I can do because someone is actually here challenging it.”

We want to give kids something to hope for. If one kid says, “Your cd helped get me through this year,” that’s all it takes.

3 years ago I was stocking shelves at Target, living on Ramen noodles, and crashing at Billy’s house. Now I’m on tour

In music industry they always want you to write something like the one that was popular. And that’s something you kind of have to just – sometimes you just say yes to people, like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure,” and then you just write the one you want to write.

Things have changed. I almost feel like it’s more adaptable, and you can decide your own career now. I feel artists have so much more of a voice and so much more power now. It’s really inspiring to see how a lot of the young artists use their platforms.

Start enjoying the things you like about yourself, and if there are things you want to change, either get to work on it or get over it.

A lot of bands don’t really like each other. I read an Interpol interview the other day, it was a really good interview because it was showing a different aspect of a band.

I got a little tattoo on my face, I’ll never be able to work another real job so I consider that to be kinda forcing myself to stick to music.

The whole time you’re bouncing ideas off each other, you continue to try and push the songs as far as you can take them and make them the best that they can be.

I hope my allergies don’t act up

All the best songs are, I think, the easiest write because they just come out.

There are some people i’d take a bullet for, and some people i’d like to put a bullet in.

I didn’t even write the lyrics down. I got in the booth, I put down a little guitar riff and the idea I had was it was going to be really simple, I just want it to be all about the lyrics and I just literally sang the lyrics.

At times you have to fight. No way around it. At some point, every one of us is confronted with danger or injustice.

An obvious fact about negative feelings is often overlooked. They are caused by us, not by exterior happenings. An outside event presents the challenge, but we react to it. So we must attend to the way we take things, not to the things themselves.

It would appear that, on the level of individual nations and of international relations, the free market is the most efficient instrument for utilizing resources and effectively responding to needs.

But as an amateur, the highest level you can box at is the Olympics. I did that at 18 and felt it was time to move on to other challenges as a professional.

I prefer to have longevity. I like as great a variety as possible, hopefully to avoid getting stuck in one kind of character, having to do it over and over again.

I follow a dairy-free and gluten-free diet, which can be challenging in some places.

Most important, however, is the third avenue to meaning in life: even the helpless victim of a hopeless situation, facing a fate he cannot change, may rise above himself, may grow beyond himself, and by so doing change himself. He may turn a personal tragedy into a triumph.

I don’t have all the answers. I need your help, your guidance, and your leadership to tackle the challenges before us.