It seems like it made the song better.

I actually think it's harder to write a song than poetry. I try to pick words that sound lyrical and good and have the right amount of meaning, but if I read them written down, it looks awful. That's why a lot of times, the lyrics come afterward for me, and those somehow have more meaning than having a lyrical idea first and putting music to it.

I try not to keep in mind what's going on currently in music. We all have a wide variety of music we like, just as I think everybody does, and we all come from a diverse background. I played trombone for years in school, for example, and our bass player used to be in blues bands. I just try to keep in my mind what I think is good music. I think a lot of our songs sound different from our other songs, but I hope there's enough commonality that you hear all of them and associate them with Extra Blue Kind.

It's really great to see that we're not just an Indianapolis phenomenon. To play shows all over the place and have people get into it, we feel like a lot more is coming.

He hasn't had a hit song since 1966 with 'An Old-Fashioned Wedding,' but these days you can't go to many places in Manhattan without bumping into him. We all know his songs, and they are all part of who we are.

We were joking the other day about which fight song we should sing when we win. I guess both right now.