“I used to do this big rant at the end of some gigs with Ben Folds Five. The band broke into this big heavy metal thing and I started as a joke to scream in a heavy metal falsetto. I found myself saying things like: Feel my pain, I am white, feel my pain.”

Everybody knows it hurts to grow up…and we’re still fighting it.

I feel like a quote out of context, withholding the rest so I can be for you what you want to see.

Rock and roll is – and should be – a kid’s place.

Because I write very simply, but inside the simplicity, there’s a lot of subtlety. That’s what I’m proud of.

Now that I have found someone, I’m feeling more alone… than I ever have before.

Everyone grew up with a piano in their living room, so rocking out on the piano was accessible – it wasn’t an upper-class thing. Now pianos have become very much a piece of furniture.

A lot of 18-year-olds are like old men. They think they’ve seen everything.

Im really good at writing almost hits.

What stupid f – king idiot gets married a second time if the first time didn’t work out?

I’ve gotten to the point where I realize that I need to tell my truth in music and not walk around blabbing my mind.

It’s a tough thing to know that when you’re making your album, you’re going to end up collaborating with, say, Wal-Mart, on your artwork. That just sucks. And the pressure behind getting the numbers real fast is, to me, dizzying.

I want people to listen to my lyrics and be okay with themselves. The people who have it the roughest are homosexuals who come out of the closet.

If you can’t draw a crowd, draw dicks on the wall

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you.

Off the coast and I’m headed nowhere

I look to an out gay man or woman as pretty much what I would aspire to. The strength that it takes to do that and the floodgates that open and what they pay for it.

Television is where you earn regular money so you can plan a little bit but even then only when you have a regular gig. If you’re just doing the odd appearance, you don’t know if it will carry on.

I was so happy and content with in life playing music. Music was always my first job and my day gig was my second job.

The Stones always tried to do the odd smaller gig when they could.

I still remember the first gig where I got people going, it was Rascals in New Jersey, and the place was packed. I was scared. People were expecting me to be funny. I gotta be honest, every time I walk into a club, it’s that same fear.

Live comedy’s a very reckless, foolhardy profession. You’re only as good as your last gig so earnings fluctuate.

I saw my first gig here actually (Festival Hall in Brisbane) Duran Duran.