The song succeeds or fails just based on whether you argue your point successfully. I like throwing images together, which create meaning if you listen to it one time, but if you listen to it another time you might get a different meaning.

I put my energy into writing songs. I have to carve out a living somehow doing this, and licensing is one way. It's hard to register what's too much for other people. I don't watch TV, so it's tough for me to gauge. I just take it as it comes, and don't put a whole lot of thought into it.

Pop culture, commercials. You only come across a commercial if you're watching a TV all the time. I've never been all that upset. I like hearing the songs. I guess I've never been all that caught up in it.

We all assume the worst the best we can.

I like writing in an illustrative, descriptive way. I prefer describing to rather than explaining.

It's fun to be able to revisit a song and do something that doesn't really illustrate the song but works tangentially or runs parallel to the song in some way.

It sort of depends on the song. Some of them are pretty easy to write, and others take a while. I do a lot of writing in the morning.

We play some smaller songs larger than they are the record, and vice versa. It took me a while to get used to playing live.