I Like Writing On Piano And A

Between Every Record, We All Split Off In Our Own World And We All End Up Listening To Usually Pretty Different Music On Our Own. We Come Together Not Really Knowing What The Other People Having Been Really Listening To And What's Been Influencing Them.

The Late '90s Were A Really Bad Time For People Trying To Be Rock Stars, You Know What I Mean? It Seemed Like Everyone Was A One-hit Wonder On The Radio. We Had Friends Who Had A Hit Single On The Radio And Sold 500,000 Records, And Then They Couldn't Get Arrested A Year Later. I Had This Feeling At The Time That That Was Not Possible Anymore, So The Idea Of Becoming The Biggest Band In The Country—it Seemed Laughable. I Felt That Having Those Sort Of Ambitions Was Foolish, Because There Was No Way That Was Going To Be Possible. If You Saw It That Way, You Were Just Deluding Yourself.

When I Listen To Airplanes Record, It Takes Me Back. I Remember A Lot Of My Thought Processes When I Was 20 Or 21, Writing Those Songs And Recording That Record. I Wonder What I Was Thinking When I Was Trying To Say A Particular Thing. I Hear Some Of The Weird Little Nuances In The Recording; I Can Hear What The Room Sounded Like. I Remember What It Smelled Like. I Can Remember Sitting Up In Guitarist Chris Walla's Bedroom And For The First Time In My Life Having This Realization Like, "maybe I Can Do This. Maybe I Can Make Music That In Some Capacity People Will Enjoy And Come See Me Play."

As A Songwriter, I'm Not Necessarily Writing About Myself Or My Life.

I Kind Of Dropped A Lot Of Bad Habits About Three Years Ago And Became Kind Of Accidentally Straight-edge. I Don't Have Xs On My Hands, But I Guess If I Wanted To Go Back To Calling Myself Straight-edge, I Could. Around That Same Time I Started Running. I Never Saw Myself As The Kind Of Person Who Would Become A Runner. It Seemed Unfathomable To Me That I Would Ever Run Three Miles, Let Alone 26.2.