The following is a transcription of an interview I had with John Wozniak. The interview took place in Cincinnati, Ohio on March 14, 1998.

Sections in bold refer to me speaking.

I have included several Real Audio sound clips. If you do not have the Real Player, you can download it from www.real.com.
To hear these clips, please click on the speaker graphic:



It has begun!

First things first, plans for the next album? Do you know when that's going to be going on, how why?

Well our plan is to be recording by the end of the year.

Meaning?

November. And probably release something.. maybe this time next year.

Is it going to be stuff you're playing in concert now, or brand new stuff?

Pretty much stuff we've been playing in concert.

So like Wave Motion Gun?

Things like Wave Motion Gun, Ballad of Aslan. A song called Never. Which we never play. But it's a great song. A lot of the stuff that we've been playing recently, and some older material.

Like what?

Um.. well Never is a good example.. and.. we'll probaly record 32 or 40 songs. Something like that.

Then slim it down from that?

Yeah. And we'll just pick 12. Or whatever turns out to be the next album length.

Speaking of album length, this album is 37 minutes. Any plans to make it longer next time? Hint hint..

No. Probably not.

Well, I know some of the songs are shorter. The songs are typically short.

Yeah. Also that, and I like short records. Not short records, but shorter records rather than longer records. I was never able to get through Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. I've never been able to make it through. And I love the Smashing Pumpkins, they're one of my favorite bands ever, but I've never been able to listen to the whole thing all the way through.

Speaking of record releases, I know you mentioned something about zog bogbean being re- released.

Yes.

What's the deal with that? Whose idea was that?

Re-releasing it? Mine! I mean, I've maintained ownership of that record, 100 percent. Because I knew that some day, you know, I'd want to find a home for it someplace. And I was thinking about just distributing it over the internet. Figuring out some way of doing it and then just doing it over the internet.

I'll help out!

We could probably figure something out.

Are you going to re-mix stuff Or is it going to be mainly the same thing?

No, we're not going to remix it.

Everything will remain on the album?

Yeah, I might remaster it, in fact I'm sure I would. But all the songs will be the same.

Including the songs that Sherry play on?

Oh yeah!

Speaking of Sherry, are you guys going to ever get back together in terms of songwriting and performing? Any thoughts on that?

No, we'll never get back together. We'll remain friends, but I see her going in a completely different direction than me musically. But she'll end up doing really well if she continues on the path she's on. Because she's doing something very original.

Other than C.S. Lewis and Lewis Carrol, what other authors do you like?

Michael Enday. He's German. He wrote the neverending story and it was translated into English. Did you say Tolkein? I like Tolkein.

Any Science Fiction?

Oh, sure. Azimov. I love Asimov. I love the short stories.. the I Robot series and such. Those are really good. LeVar Burton.. no just kidding. [laughter] He's writing books now!

He is? really? That's crazy!

Yeah, all the Star Trek people are writing books.

It's because they dont' have anything else to do. Speaking of songwriting, did you ever write a song that you thought was great and no one else liked it? Do people generally throw your ideas out, or sort work with it?

Oh, you mean that I thought was great but that the people I was playing with thought sucked?

Either way. In general.

No, everybody that I tend to associate myself with are the kind of people that are ultimately polite. And even if they hated something, they'd still be like "yeah, that was really great. I really liked that. That's really nice."

In terms of writing songs, I've specifically noticed a change since album. Things like Wave Motion Gun. It seems like originally it seemed like the guitar parts and bass and drums have mimicked the rhythms. It seems like lately things have sprung out more individually. Am I right?

You're right. Mainly because Dylan and Dan have had more time to hear what it is that I'm doing. And more time to explore how they can do something to compliment as opposed to just mimic the rhythm. I mean, we're a better band than we were.

You mentioned dealing with Zog Bogbean on the internet. Are there any other things you'd like to do with the net in terms of the band?

Yeah, I've been thinking of doing a road journal. A road diary.

Like Glen's?

Who?

Glen, of Toad The Wet Sprocket. He does one of those. Or he did. He sort of stopped in November.

Yeah, I could see myself doing something like that.

Right. Something monthly? Weekly? Daily? Not daily..

No it wouldn't be daily, because we're not in hotels daily and that would be the only place where I'd be able to upload. But I could see it being every three days or something like that. Depositing some thoughts. Into the toilet of the internet.

Being on the road in general, how has that meshed with family life?

It doesn't. It conflicts completely with family life. It's like somebody who.. it's almost like being a pirate or a sailor or something like that and having a family at home. You have to go out and sail the seven seas..

Be the breadwinner?

...Right. And then come back with your bounty. Or yeah, exactly. Or your fish. Your big boat full of fish.

In terms of.. I know that your son is growing up. Is it an issue? Is it tough to deal with or have you sort of worked things out?

Well I mean I'm dealing with it because I know that eventually he's going to have to go to college and I'm going to have to pay for it. And I'd like to just have a comfortable life and be sure that he has a comfortable life. So it's important that.. if I have the ability to go out and do what I love to do and make some moeny at it, so that I can have a comfortable life with my family, then I would be an idiot if I didn't do it!

So ... if you weren't doing this, or if you have to settle down, what would you do?

I would write. If I had to do something at home, I would write literature.

I've heard about Joy to the Fishes.

Joy to the Fishes? Yeah. That's getting around, man!

Well it was on the interview with Brandon from JAMTV so everyone's heard it. So are you still working on that on the road?

He was a really nice guy by the way. That was a good interview.

Yeah, he is. Really nice. I talked to him about it. He was very nice.

What'd you ask?

Do you work on that on the road, or is it something you work on off-tour when you have time to spare?

I haven't really had an opportunity to spend as much time working on it as I'd like. I'd like to revise it. It needs quite a lot of revision.

What is it?

It's a manuscript for a book. It's a fantasy book.

[break to move to back lounge]

...I met your little brother in San Fransisco.

My little brother?

Well, your smaller brother.

Yeah, he's my older tiny brother. Robby.

He's a nice guy.

...Yeah, he's a great guy. He's a good kid. He's got that crazy book business of his.

What does he do?

He deals in antiquated rare books. Him and my dad. My dad collects them. He used to sell them, but my dad used to run the business, but my brother took over the family business.

How did you get started with Blake & Bradford management? That's something that's been..

Been bothering you?

No, not bothering me, but I've been curious..

Yeah, it's been bugging the hell outta me! [laughter] Well, a guy named Brian Koppleman at EMI records, whose father used to run Capitol, EMI, Virgin, all that.. he was the head guy, the chairman of the board of Capitol/EMI... his son Brian was a big cheese in the A&R dept. at EMI and a really good friend of Glen Phillips from Toad. So when we needed management, he knew Chris through Glen. He thought that Chris would be a great manager for us. He introduced Chris to our music and Chris really liked it.

Yeah, Chris raves about you guys. He adores you.

Yeah, well we adore him!

He's a nice guy.

He's a tremendous guy. And what's more, he's virtually a genius in the field of management. In managing bands, I don't think there is a better manager out there except for, you know, Kathy Mattea. She manages Less Than Jake.

This is kind of an off-kilter question..what fruit or animal would you be if you could be a fruit or animal? Or vegetable..

I would be... if I could be a fruit... I would be, like, a pomegranite because nobody really eats them. They're pretty much guaranteed to live their existence without being eaten.

So you want to be lonely all your life?

No, I just don't want to get eaten! So I'd probably be a pomegranite. If I were going be an animal, I'd want to be, like, a chinchilla. Or a parrot.

What is your obsession with Chincillas? You always talk about Chinchillas!

Oh, they're so soft and fuzzy!

I've never seen a Chinchilla. What does a chinchilla look like?

What, you've never seen a Chincilla? It's like that big... [gestures.. indicating something the size of a rabbit] It's mostly fur. The real actual chinchilla is probably actually the size of a mouse. So it's mostly, like, fur. And they're silver.. like grey.. And they have this little puffy tail.. and they're like "poof poof!" And they're so soft and they're sweet they run around really fast and.. you know, they're rodents, and they take dust baths...

Dust baths?

That's what keeps them clean! They take little dust baths..And they're just super fun to look at.

...Because, I know there are a couple interviews out there and you talk about Marcy Open School, and you always bring up chinchillas. The free-range Chinchillas that roamed around the classroom.

Yeah, we had Chinchies! And they were great! I can't remember.. It was Romeo and Juliet or something like that. There were two of them. I can't remember what their names were though.

Did you have any other pets?

Yeah, I had a rat. A black & white rat named B.F.

Stands for..?

Named after B. F. Skinner. The psychologist. [laughter]

You named your rat after a psychologist?

My dad did, of course.

Oh, of course. That makes a lot of sense. [laughter]

B.F. Skinner did conditional psychology. You know, he was probably the first guy to put a rat in a maze.. and see what it did.. where it would go to get the cheese. Things like that. He did a lot of things with rats. So my dad, being the consummate psychologist, named our rat B.F.! [laughter]

And then it died and my dad told me that it ran away. That he ran away. He was just like "Oh, B.F. ran away." I'm like "B.F., come home!"

And did you believe him?

It's like "Shane, come home!" Did I believe him? I totally believed him. But it was bullshit. He actually was dead. He was in the trash can somewhere. Flushed down the toilet. [laughs]

Jeezum! That's depressing! [pause] Oh, I know... Sex & Candy was on the soundtrack for Hurricane streets. How did that come about? Did you have a hand in that? Did you organize, or did they come to you? Did Chris have a hand in that?

They came to us. Someone came to us. I think it was Mammoth records that came to us and said they had to have the song for the soundtrack. And.. I think the people wanted to put in the movie.

It plays in the background in some party scene, is what I've heard.

Something like that. So they came to us. I still havent' seen the thing.

You haven't?

No, they refuse to send me a screening copy for some reason. They just haven't.

I heard it was a decent movie. Nothing too terribly wonderful. Kind of like KIDS.

Yeah. I heard it was a little bit like a cross between that and a cross between Stand By Me or something like that. It's like a kids movie. A teenagers' movie. A coming-of-age type film.

Like Dawson's creek? Have you heard about Dawson's Creek?

What about it? What's it like?

You haven't seen it? It's this show about 15 year olds..in some town. Apparently it's all the rage..they're supposed to be 15 year olds but they all look like they're about 22. They have their relationships with their teachers and things like that. It's not terribly realistic.

They wanted me to write the theme song for that show. But they wanted me to sing it too, and there was no way I was gonna do that. So I turned them down. Because, you know, I would write the song for the show, but I'm not going go out on a limb where I'm singing on a TV theme song. [singing] "Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name.. at Dawson's Creek it's so insane....."

It's the next hit!

[singing] "...You wanna be where you're 15. Your teachers all look so great. You wanna go where you can.... have sex with your teachers."

"And you look 22."

Yeah they're in the Jcrew catalogue. They're the models.

Is it kinda like a 90s version of 90210?

Yeah, that's what it seems like.

I'm really glad I didn't do it then. I'm glad everybody loves it, but I'm not going to do their theme song. I would write it, but I wouldn't sing it.

I know they play a lot of Toad The Wet Sprocket, Sarah McLachlan, that sort of thing during the show.

Yeah, okay.

So, here's a rather heavy subject. I was hoping you could comment on the over-abundance drug content in your songs. Opium.. Poppies.. John Fisher Ford.. Wave Motion Gun.. I gather it's been a rather large part of your life. How has it impacted you? What's the story behind all that? If you want to say.

Umm.. sure. Well, when I was younger, in high school, I started out smoking pot. Which escalated into taking acid on a regular basis, which escalated into selling acid. And then I started, when I went to college, I started doing opiates. Pills and things like that. And at some point in my life I realized I was doing it because I was quelling this massive level of anxiety that I was feeling about something. I coudln't really figure out why I was so anxious. So I was using the opiates to keep myself from being strung out and anxious and nervous about all this stuff.

It just turned out to be the fact that I was growing up and I was just anxious about life, and what the fuck I was going to do for the rest of my life. And it was nothing more than that. It was just that I had no idea what I was going to do and I was really anxious. It was killing some of my anxiety and boredome at the same time.

But I realized I had problem with it eventually. All my friends had moved on from, like Pheroset and Darvoset and Percodan and Percoset and shit like that, to to heroin. Most of them actually went directly from ecstacy to heroin. And that's when I realized that I didn't really have any friends anymore. Any real friends.

It just became this really painful thing for me. So I cleaned up my act.

Did you do it on your own?

People stopped hanging out with me at the point when I stopped doing drugs. All of a sudden they didn't wanna hang out with me anymore. And I would have hung out with them. I mean they were killing themselves, but I still would have hung out with them.

Kind of like a superiority thing?

It was just that they didn't want me dragging them down. You know, so I moved away. That's when I went to New York. And started a new life.

Do you ever slip?

I've smoked pot a couple times. Just to get to sleep. Just when I'm on the road and I've had, you know, three 18- hour days in a row. And I get to the point where I haven't slept in so long that I can't sleep. Because my body is just like a rubber band that's been stretched to its limit. So someone will give me some grass or something and I'll smoke a little and go to sleep.

But as far as doing drugs to enhance my level of creativity or anything like that, that's never been a factor for me. In fact, it's really zapped my motivation.

I know I've dealt with that. It's just a big distinction between the people who do that and the people who don't.

There's no reason..when I was around it.. still am around it.. I don't put people down for doing drugs. I'm not going to tell them to do them or not to do them. You know, I'm comfortable enough now in my own sobriety to be able to move through it. I'm single-minded. I know how it fucked me up and made me feel. And I know what it's like to detox from drugs. And just feeling sick all the time. And that's not something I want to experience again. And having nightmares. I don't want to experience having nightmares anymore.

I have nightmares about having nightmares. And if you've ever had a dream where your hands start to grow and your fingers grow to the size of, like, carrots.. and you want to chew them off and you don't know why, but you just feel like you need to chew your fingers off.. and they're huge.. and you can't wake up.. then you would probably never do drugs again.

Speaking of which, as John takes a dip of chew, are you gonna quit?

Yeah, but I gotta get the patch.

Just Nicoderm or whatever it is?

Yeah, CQ. That's good shit!

Just don't get addicted to the patch!

You know, but that was a recurring dream I had. And during it all there was this .. like "neeeeee!!!!!!!!!" This buzzing going on. Where my whole body was buzzing, like an electrical current..like I *was* an electrical current.

Sounds scary.

Yeah, it was. It was extremely scary.

So do you get nightmares now?

No, not so much.

You probably don't. You guys are on such a weird sleeping schedule these days, that you probably don't have the time.

My brain doesn't have enough time to play around like that. To get limber enough to have a nightmare.

In terms of the future for the band, what are you looking forwards to? What are your aspirations for the band down the road?

Much much much more recording. Playing live is cool and it's a lot of fun, but I would like to make sure we're putting out a record a year. And not getting caught up in the whole record biz..promotion thing. Like the timing of it all.

So who's fault is that? Is that because the single goes so well. Is Capitol limiting you in terms of recording?

It's because records have lives. A record, when it's put out, it has a life. When it's born... it goes into this adolescent phase where radio stations start to play it.. then it grows up when people start to buy it. You know. And it's playing all over the radio. And it hits its peak, and then it starts to die. And in there there are, you konw, singles that go out on the radio. And it's a natural process. And you have to wait until that process completes itself.

So St. Joe is the next single.. are there going to be a bunch of singles off this album?

I foresee three of them.

So what after St. Joe?

After St. Joe, there will be Sherry Fraser. And I think they're going to want to do Poppies, but I think we're going to have to say no. It's time for another record.

I think Poppies kind of hearkens back to St. Joe too much. People are not going to not see the difference between the two. They're vastly different songs, but the general public isn't going to hear that.

Yeah. Mmhmm.

So what's the first single off the next album?

That I can't say. I don't know. I'll have to hear the reordings. I know what songs I'd like, but the recordings are really going to make the big difference.

What's been the best part so far? It's sort of snowballed into something huge. What's been the most fun? What's been the most rewarding?

The most rewarding part has just been everybody coming out to the shows. Having a lot of people at the shows. And feeling the love that everyone's giving back. You know, because that's what we're doing. We're out there and we're giving out love. And when people give it back it's a powerful experience.

And the other nice thing has been picking the opening bands.. the bands that we want to go on the road with. And being out with Lincoln.

How did that work? How did you get involved with them? Did you pick them?

We did a show with them in Atlanta. Just out of the blue. They were the opening act. We had no idea who they were. They were scheduled in.

And I saw their show, and right then and there I was like "I love this band. This band is doing something absolutely special and magical."

And being on the road with them, I've realized that Chris Temple is a genius.

Oh, he is. He's phenomenal.

I mean, He's one of those rare jewels that comes along once in every 10 or 20 years.

Lyrically I think you two.. that's one thing that strikes me a lot and people comment that lyrically you two both have it really down.

It's not just lyrics, it's lyrics married with the melody of the lyrics. And the rhythm of the lyrics. And the pattern it creates. He has just an absolutely rock solid grip on that. Like the song "straight".. it makes me want to cry every time I hear it. And "Taller".. "Taller" makes me want to cry too. He wrote that about his wife. Listen to it thinking about that. Actually, you listen to that thinking he accidentally died in a plane crash or a car crash or that something happened... you start to realize that this is a guy who should never ever be taken for granted. Because he's a very special person. And God forbid he should leave this planet before he gets his due, I'm gonna be really upset.

So do you guys want to get back together? You want to tour in the future with them?

Yeah.

Ever thought of working together?

Yeah. I have this fantasy that if their band should ever unforseeably break up, I would ask Chris to join the band.

Totally. You guys compliment eachother. A lot of people notice that with them as an opening act. They really fit with you guys.

Yeah, I think so too. I would go to the ends of the earth.. I love him. besides being a great musician and a brilliant songwriter, I love the guy as a brother at this point. After touring with him. And I would do anything for him. In fact, I literally would open up my band for him if he wanted to come be a part of it. That's not something I would do for anybody but him.

He's an asset to anyone. So how about jolene? How did you get hooked in with Jolene?

Originally it was just a sampler we did with them on Deep South records. We put a song on there. Athaneum, a band down there, also had a single on that. So we went down there to play with Athaneum. John Crook, the singer for Jolene, and Mark, the singer for Athaneum, were roommates. So John came out and did a song with Athaneum. I had heard about Jolene, and so when I met John I said "Hey, we should tour together at some point!" And he thought that was a great idea, so he invited us out on a tour with them last year.

It's funny, the two opening bands, Jolene and Lincoln, are so strikingly different.

Yeah, they definitely are. Completely different. But they're both great!

Definitely. But I think I can see a common bond in the music of Marcy that ties Lincoln and Jolene together. There are elements of each in your music.

That, and also the fact that but also the three of us, Dan, Dylan and myself, are music appreciators. It's not necessarily even looking to match a sound with ours, so much as just a band that we really like to listen to. And we like the people, and we like to hang out with them every night.

So are you going to tour with Built to Spill? I know you like those guys.

Man, I would LOVE to tour with Built to Spill.

Are they on tour?

They tour one month out of the year. So I doubt it would ever happen.

That would be quite a lineup.

Doug Marsh, the guy from Built to Spill, is another one of those rare jewels.

So what other bands are you into in terms of stuff today?

Not much. I still like Pink Floyd. Syd Barret.

Funny.. my friend was reading an encyclopedia of music...and he found a bio of Syd Barret, and he posted it to the Marcy Playground listserv. He said "Who does this remind you of?" And it said "He's inspired by C.S. Lewis and Lewis Carroll, themes of fantasy run through his music..." And of course everyone said "Oh, it's John!" It was very striking, the similarities between the two.

That's really weird. Because i'm a huge appreciator of what he does... I think Syd and I are kindred spirits, except I got out earlier than he did.

True. That's one thing some people are noticing... the 27 club. You're 27 now.

Really, I dread that, you know? I mean, for comics, commedians, it's 32. For musicians it's 27 or 28.

Is it a justified fear?

Probably not. Most of the musicians who died at 27 or 28 did so because they were irresponsible. I mean, how many of them died of drugs? Pretty much.. most of them. And then how many died in plane crashes? A few, but they were small planes. And I would never ever in a million years go up in a small plane, no matter what.

You have a fear of planes?

No, I have a fear of *small* planes. And Chris Blake has a small plane, but never in a million years would he *ever* be able to convince me to go up with him in it.

And I don't have a personal fear that I'm going to do something stupid, but I still have a paranoia that something's going to happen. Something dramatic is going to happen to me.

So could you comment on musicians that have influence your songwriting.. I know Cat Stevens and Willie Nelson. You said Syd Barret, but who else?

Van Morrison. And a lot of Celtic folk music because I grew up listening to it. My dad listened to that stuff. And I grew up listening to a lot of classical music.

I can see the rhythm correlation between Celtic music and Marcy. The real driving rhythm.

Yeah, the driving stuff. The mid-tempo kind of reels. Exactly. Also, just the folk tradidion of writing stories in songs has always been part of my style.

I noticed that's something you and Chris Temple, again, both tend to do. Like "Building a House". Who else would write a song like that.

Ah! Oh God! That's just so... and his imagery is so visual. His lyrics are so colorful and visual. Incredible.

He's a genius. I dont' say that about just anybody, either. I really think he is, honest to god, a fucking genius.

A while ago my friend was commenting.. that's like the line in Wave Motion Gun, "there's a whole raft of little buttons." You could have said any number of things there.. "A whole bunch of little buttons" or "a lot of little buttons". Vocabulary-wise, both you and Chris.. there are not many musicians out there who use the very off kilter words that you wouldn't expect.

It comes from reading a lot and being sort of versed in the english language. And growing up with a father who uses off kilter english grammar. He's the sort of person who.. listen to him. He uses little phrases from the 19th century that you would never hear. A lot of it comes from his mother too. My grandmother. We're all readers. So, you know, you pick up phrases here and there.

So are you reading anything now? Any good books you'd reccomend?

I'd reccomend, just for entertainment's sake.. a really entertaining series was The Witching Hour series by Ann Rice. That was just entertaining. It's not brilliant or anything, but it's an escape for a little while.

Any non fiction you're reading?

No. I don't believe in it. No.

I'm not surprised. Except in school, right?

Right.

Speaking of school, what was the school experience like?

Evergreen? The college experience was great.! I went there seeking an education. Not necessarily a degree.

Did you get what you came for?

Yes, I definitely did. Because the difference was, I went to college for a liberal arts education. Not to get a job and a degree and 2.5 kids and a house in the suburbs and a dog and a station wagon. Which I could have very easily done, but I wouldn't have gone to Evergreen. I would have ended up going to some other school.

I went to Evergreen specifically because they have a strong interdisciplinary cirriculum.

What's your major?

Well, that's the thing. My major was pop culture and experimental light photography.

So you're a photographer. I know some of your stuff is in the Zog Bogbean liner notes. Do you still do photography at all?

I haven't picked up my camera in a while. I have it with me. But my mom's a professional photographer. So she does.

Your mom's quite a character.

Yeah, she is. She's a nut case. [laughter] And she's been a big influence on me as far as visual still images. I could never do, like, film. That's too complicated for me. But I could be a photographer.

You should do that for the website. Get a digital camera.

Dylan already did!

So you're going to post crowd shots and stuff?

Yeah, Dylan is going to do the digital camera and I'm going to do the road journal.

That's totally what they have on the Toad website. Glen does the road journal and Randy does the photography. And Dean has this thing called Ask Dean where you can call a 1-800 number and ask questions and he answers them in audio format on the site. And of course he's very sarcastic.

I can't think of anything I'd like to ask Dean, except for does he like SPAM. Or like "What would you do with SPAM if you had an entire case of it?"

You should call him up and ask it!

"Dean, what would you do with an entire case of SPAM?"

They might actually post it, considering. If you made it clear it was you calling, not some nutcase. Okay, a couple basic 17 mag. questions.. favorite color?

Royal blue. Or like velvety royal blue. Mmm!

Boxers of briefs?

Boxers.

Silk?

If at all possible. If I can afford them at the time. If not, 100% cotton.

Favorite food?

Soup.

Just soup in general? Any specific kind?

I like miso soup. It's a japanese soy soup.

Favorite movie?

Star wars.

Star wars, or any of the others?

Empire Strikes back. I thought Return of the Jedi was too Jim Henson and I thought that Star Wars was too short. I wanted it to be more.. I think if you watch Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, you could end it right there. I love the whole snow scene.

[Dylan interrupts, asking when we'll be done]

Ah, he just wants to play fuckin' video games. We're doing an interview. What's more important, you know what I mean?

What video games? You guys have one of those Playstations, right?

He's been playing Tomb Raider. I've been playing Riven on my computer.

Some of those have really good soundtracks.

Yeah. This one has a really good soundtrack.

Anything else? I can't think of anything else. Ask yourself questions. What would you ask yourself?

Um.. do I have a process for writing songs?

Do you have a process? Do you keep a journal or anything? Do you write stuff down as you're going?

Yeah, when i'm in the writing music mode, I do. When I'm on the road I don't have any time really to think about writing new material, so I don't, on the road. On the road I basically concentrate on improving my performance.

Staying awake?

Well, yeah. Trying to get enough sleep, a good meal here and there. I really have to concentrate hard on not drinking too much. Because you come to these gigs and everyone's trying to push beer in your face and buy you a beer. Buy you a drink.

Yeah, you guys are playing a lot of small clubs and bars.

Everybody... they come and they like it and they want to buy you a drink and it's so easy to say "Yeah, sure."

Is that something you deal with a lot? Do you have problems with drinking?

I get drunk.. enough. If that's a problem, then yeah. I get drunk every other night.

Is it something you wish you could cut back on?

Well to the extent that I wake up at 9:00 in the morning and have to do radio with a hangover..

You guys have been doing a lot of that. MTV, Loveline, things like that. How's Loveline?

Loveline was great. I think Adam is a really nice guy. A genuinely nice guy. Very real. He's funny, but he's... more than funny, he's very down to earth.

And Dr. Drew just thinks everybody has problems with their father.

Yeah. Everybody was molested, everybody had problems. One of the questions I asked Dr. Drew on the show was "Does everybody who calls up this .. have they all been sexually abused and molested?" They looked at me dead seriously and they were like "Actually, most of them, yes." I was just amazed. But they're right. They quoted me bizzare statistics. Something like 60% of the people in the US have been molested at some point or another.

Well, I think that's all I have for the interview.

Allright then. Thanks!