I don't think I've ever gotten to the point where I sent out Christmas cards! But if I did, they would have to feature my pets, that's for sure.

Whether I live there again or not, Seattle will always be my home.

I guess if you live long enough, anything can happen.

When I was a kid in the late '60s and early '70s, my parents and their friends would play the records of Andy Williams, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Perry Como, music with string arrangements and men singing songs that sounded sad whether they were or not.

It took me quite a while to find my natural voice. I'm glad I stuck around long enough to see that happen.

Nothing seems too weird to me anymore.

Have I tried a black pudding? I'll eat anything - I'm not finicky - but that's not to say it takes any courage to eat black puddings because I find them delicious.

Soundgarden are good friends of mine.

I had a lot of jobs when I was younger. Where I grew up, there was a lot of agricultural jobs, so I worked on a lot of farms. I worked in the pea fields, harvesting peas.

I've learned that sticking around counts for something.

I grew up a Seattle Sonics fan, in Washington state.

I was in Screaming Trees - I wasn't really interested in playing quiet music in a live setting. But I would get asked quite often to do a show or open for somebody, and I always said no. Finally, I was asked if I would open for Johnny Cash, and Johnny Cash was one of my dad's favorite heroes. So that's why I started doing solo shows.

The first music I heard that made me put away my comic books and make music was original punk.

I was listening to punk rock in the '70s as a young kid, but all by myself; I never met anyone that listened to that kind of music. Just by chance, I was in detention, and one of the guys in the class was Van Conner... I started talking to him and found out that we listened to some of the same music.

I'd wear nice clothes and brush my teeth more often if I cared about what people thought.

Going out and volunteering sounds simple, but many people don't volunteer because they don't know where to start.

I'm not really worried about writer's block.

Art is observing society around you, representing it through your eyes.

When I write a song, the music comes from my spirit, which is very playful and optimistic, but then the lyrics come from my head, which is in a different space.

Travelling alone was like laundry for my thoughts.

I was an only child, so I was alone a lot.

When I started really playing music, I pretty much quit sports. I quit everything.

I remember, when I heard Jeff Buckley's 'Grace,' on first listen I just thought it was such a great song.

Fear just crushes creativity, and if I let fear into the studio and into the songwriting, I was going to let it kill the artist inside of me.