I tend to not try and listen to a lot of other artists while I'm writing, because if I hear something that's brilliant.
I'd say Ernest Hemingway would be a blast to get drunk with.
Hold your head high heavy heart.
I'm a goof. I talk too much. I tell stories. I tell cheesy Dad jokes. I'm theatrical and I'll mix things up and I'll surprise people. Those are the things that I just do because that's who I am.
I want to play a show at Madison Square Garden in New York, which is where the New York Knicks play. That's what I want.
I wasn't really writing anything that I felt was worth it at the end, but then certain things sparked me as a solo writer - to be able to try new things and experiment, and ultimately challenge myself as a performer and as a songwriter and just to commit to ideas, and not be afraid to be myself.
A true measure of success is just to work hard and get my music out there and just be myself and be real.
I write songs so that people can make them into what it means to them as well.
People can smell the bullshit and see through the curtains. People know when something's real and when something isn't, and when some dude really means what he's saying or singing, or when he doesn't.
Writing a great song is not a simple task, but I feel like when everything comes together and you sing it in a certain way that no-one else can sing it, when it's written in a certain way that's perfect for the way that you're performing it, that those are the things that make a song great.
I'm not bashing people who write songs that are just 'get on the dance floor and party party', I understand why people need those songs too, but I don't really write lyrics like that.
Prose poetry is not set to a melody or music so there's something freeing about it.
I think that a great song needs the full package. I think that a great song needs everything from lyrics, to melody, to music, and it needs to be interesting and it needs take you in and swallow you and swish you around, and then regurgitate you back in better form.
I listen to a pretty wide variety of albums so as to get influenced by nothing particular.
I think especially since going solo it's pretty clear that I'm completely being myself.
I'm not avoiding specifics, but I've always written songs from more of a global standpoint.
I read a lot of prose poetry and get inspired by more-so just a state of mind.
Johnny Depp and I think Woody Allen would be fun to hang out with.
I like films that go a little more daring visually, and story-based stuff that usually reflects pretty closely to what real life is.
In the recording process I do listen to other artists a lot and other albums and albums I am loving lately, or ones that I still love that came out in the 80s or 70s.
