You can't please everybody all the time, but I think for the most part we tend to maintain a healthy level of self-reference to kind of make sure we continue to push things forward.

It's like, how do you continue to make records that are representative of who you are that your fans will recognize as your band, while still trying to push things forward and present new sounds for people.

When we moved to Seattle, everybody kind of disappeared into different corners of the city and it was a very difficult time for the band.

I think we have a duty to maintain the light of consciousness to make sure it continues into the future.

I'm not like a 90-mph fastball kind of guy, but I can hit 70 on radar gun. I hit 70 one time on a radar guy at one of those pitch-and-throw kind of things. I have a pretty good arm for somebody who's not a baseball player.

If you can make the song a soundtrack to what you're living at the time, I think that's the most important part of a song.