There's a lot of bands that blow up quickly, but then they die quickly. Longevity is the healthy thing; that's the pursuit.

Through technology and social media, we're able to create an identity online that shows people the face that we want them to see and rather than who they really are.

If I'm with people who are really positive and go with the flow, that's when the best ideas come out for me.

'I Get Around' came on one day. I'd never heard the Beach Boys before. The sound was so fresh to me. That was the first time when I truly was gripped by the power of music. It opened my eyes to the heights that music can achieve.

There were times when I was terrified to go to school because it felt like a jail sentence.

If I was 13 years old and Kurt Cobain tweeted me some advice or even just said hi, my whole world would be affected by that.

I'm not in this to make money. I would not have sold my soul to be on 'American Idol.'

Pressure has always been more of a friend than a foe for me with songwriting.

It's the meanest thing to abuse your power as a songwriter. To write pointedly about someone... it's kind of unfair to use them. They can't answer you or have a rebuttal.

When I put Foster The People together, I just wanted to play music with friends.

One of the things with the second record, a word I held close to my chest was 'brave.' To take chances to go outside the box and explore. To continue to toss off any expectation that our fans or anyone else might have of us, to just tap into who I am as a writer and artist and really just operate within that freedom of creation.

I wrote 'Pumped Up Kicks' when I began to read about the growing trend in teenage mental illness. I wanted to understand the psychology behind it because it was foreign to me.

I feel like my calling is to show people joy: to make them feel like there's something to look forward to.

'Pumped Up Kicks' is written from the perspective like Truman Capote wrote 'In Cold Blood' or Dostoevsky wrote 'Crime & Punishment.' It's psychologically breaking down someone's state of mind and diving in and walking in their shoes.

There's just really interesting facets of culture just swirling in Morocco. They all have slightly different colours, so it's just an inspiring place to be.

I experienced bullying a lot. I was an only child, and I was kind of a small kid with a big mouth, and so I always got myself in trouble.

Music is the great equalizer.

When you're underwater with goggles on, a couple of your senses are taken away, and it becomes this purely visual thing. It's just you and yourself.

I think my inner child wants to take over the world.

Lisa Gerrard from Dead Can Dance is my favorite singer as a singer - so I'm really widely spread open with music choices.

My first tattoo was for my son, just a little infinity symbol. Because every time we go apart, we stay together in infinity, so it's a tiny infinity symbol.

All of us in the band are huge Queensryche fans, and Geoff Tate is one of the best lead singers in the business.

I'm such a hippie.

There is something magical about being able to feel somebody. And that is something that has always moved me with music.