With acting, I always feel conscious of what I'm doing.

When something comes up, and it's interesting, and I have the time, I'll do it.

I was raised to think that rock was music for ignorant people who didn't think for themselves.

I got my love of jazz from my stepfather, who was a jazz musician.

We were at the dark end of the L.A. punk scene, and that scene was full-on and violent and aggressive and wild and intense.

The last thing that should happen is funding cut for education; it should be increased. We need to put more money towards education, and anything else is abusive.

I worked full time jobs, basically doing manual labor until I could make enough money supporting myself as a musician.

I'm a performer and have managed to get my performing into the mainstream consciousness of the world, I guess.

I always thought I was a pretty terrible actor.

My father was out of my life when I was pretty young - when I was 7 years old, he was gone. I didn't see him for the rest of my childhood.

I feel like if we're not running, we're basically disrespecting our bodies. When you're running, you're really using your body for what it's meant to do.

When I was in school, you could pick any instrument you want, and they'd teach you how to play it. That changed my life. I loved playing music in school, and it sent me on my path as a musician.

Bands develop their own weird ways of doing things.

I grew up being terrified of my parents, particularly my father figures.

For me it's the high-water mark of American culture - not so much contemporary jazz, which has become kind of academic, but the jazz from the '20s on through the '70s.

The most important thing to me with any politician is that they don't start wars, but education is a big part of that, too, because educated people are less likely to do stupid, violent things.

All I knew about Ethiopia was from a few records that I like, as well as what I read about the famine. But you get there and it's another world. It's filled with art and music and poetry and intellectuals and writers - all kinds of people.

We were these arty punks from Hollywood. I considered myself an intellectual.

When I'm at home, I just run all the time, you know; I get up, and I go pretty much four days a week outdoors. I go in the canyons around L.A., Malibu - just around L.A. there's a lot of different spots.

I studied music at the most remedial level when I was a kid, through the Los Angeles public schools, with a little private instruction.

Just so people know, the Silverlake Conservatory of Music is not at all about celebrity or fame or being a star. It's an academic music school.

We always write way more than we put on a record. We always write a lot-lot.

I've always kind of been an in-the-moment kind of person. I don't think that far in advance or have any idea what's around the next corner.

I love literature deeply. I view books as sacred things, and in writing my story, I'm going to do my best to honor the form that has played such a huge part in shaping who I am.