It is inspiring to see bands still trying to do significant and new things in the realm of sound. Most people in any category are more or less filling out the forms they've been handed. But there are always exceptional gems.

I still have my Anarchy in the UK 7 [ Sex Pistols single]. I'm sure it gave us a context to think about as well as a kind of kick in the ass. But we had all been playing for years at that point.

My personal definition of rock'n'roll is people attempting to do something that's beyond their ability to do it well. And whatever the outward contradictions, I do call us a rock'n'roll band.

Еach song is like starting over. Because somehow, no song's formula works for another. And that's the beauty of it all. Each song's destiny is embedded in its DNA. And our job is to reveal it.

I like to go for a certain over-the-top opulence when naming the drone pieces whereas the song titles are all about concision, I guess. I mean, if I were truly a purist, I'd call things, Long Piece #27 or Newest Fast Song, but I enjoy titling and it is helpful at rehearsals or when making set-lists.

I like to give clues - titles - that can give a simple, evocative hook into what picture or feeling welled up in my mind when I came up with the song.

Possibly the only thing we Notekillers place on a higher pedestal than music is laughs, so, of course, we also know that the idea of the title is a kind of humorous futility.

Every improv must be song specific. It has to grow organically out of the particular elements involved or it's just glib self-expression. I hate when I feel like I'm the lead guitarist in a rock band. We all gotta be going somewhere strong together, you know?

If you're talking about musically, I think I understand just a little bit more about things that were mostly intuited back then - how certain timings and tones work, so I can be a little more analytical about things now.

I could easily fill up each week with going to see debuts of friends' compositions alone. When you add in all of the bands I'm interested in catching and all of the improvisers that I still love, it gets almost impossibly daunting. I try to do as much as I can.

To me, everything in the world comes down to two categories: about-ness and is-ness. About represents or describes something, while Is is the thing itself.

I do think I've learned, in the ensuing years, how to be a more effective bandleader. And maybe, just maybe, we're a little better on our instruments.