"I didn't know how many people knew who Ferdinand was."

"It's just that a lot of songs that are popular right now, they don't have any meaning."

"My girlfriend at the time convinced me to send these songs to Cavity Search. When they wanted to put out my record I was totally shocked."

"It's a lot easier to tell the truth usually."

"I wondered if I would talk about drug use. But I guess, why hide it?"

"If you play acoustic guitar you're the depressed, sensitive guy."

"I'm just writing songs about how I feel or about how people I know feel."

"I can't think of anything off the top of my head that seems more important than something designed to raise money to keep something going that keeps IV drug users from dying."

"I didn't have a hard time making it, I had a hard time letting it go."

"I rode on a float in one of the parades in Mississippi. It's an experience."

"I like home recordings and studio recordings just as much as each other - I don't think one is better - but for this record I wanted to see what I could do in a real studio with real producers."

"The band's filter, but playing live is a lot of fun."

"Well, I try not to think about the general public since I have no idea what the general public is and I don't think anybody does."

"I mean people just have a way of - y'know they'll review your record in two sentences and put you in this little stupid box that you don't want to be in."

"I was trying to do the same thing that I always do which is make an interesting record."

"It touches on drug use. I got caught up in that for almost two years."

"But I was also doing odd jobs around Portland, like spreading gravel and transplanting bamboo trees."

"Because God only knows why people like what they like and don't like something else."

"There's always that argument to make - that you're in better company historically if people don't understand what you're doing."

"It was kind of ridiculous to carry it up to a certain point and then drop the ball or the bomb, like quitting the band right after we had signed to Virgin."

"And I'm not trying to write heavy songs."