Mark Kozelek

If people want to write long, rambling, pathetic articles about how sad they are about song titles, have a blast! I'll be out playing music to a room full of people, having a great time.

There's never anything planned. I just do what I feel is best for the song at that time.

A friend of mine passed away unexpectedly at the very end of making 'Ghosts', someone who had been as close to me as someone could get, someone who was far too young. But I couldn't really sing about it for a long time - not in the way I would have wanted to.

Even on tour, I spend two hours a night singing songs and the rest of the time staring at the back of people's heads on airplanes, some fat guy coughing on me.

Writer's block' sounds so dramatic and worrisome, and I don't worry about it. I know deep down that I'm a writer, and it's just a matter of time until it comes back, and when it does, it'll be good like it's always been.

My perspective is so much different now, being 41. The main difference between now and then is just realizing that your time will come to an end - and that it might not be far away. You see your face change, see the gray hairs sprouting up. When you're 24, you worry about the day you'll turn 40.

I don't know what aids creativity. All I know is that it feels natural to hold a guitar in my hands and sing.

When you have to pass through a couple of kids with Uzis on your way out of Jerusalem, you don't forget those images. Getting out of your comfort zone is healthy. It's one thing to hear about how things work in other countries, but it's another thing to be there.

I'm not doing anything intentionally to stay in the public eye. I'm staying true to my art, like I always have. The press, for whatever reason, decided to zone in on what is very common banter for me. It got worked out through song - the same way I work everything out.

Every artist has different priorities. Some artists I know don't make as much music as they used to, because social media has taken over their lives. I work at what I feel is a very normal pace, and things keep clicking. It's rewarding.

I play shows sometimes, and if everything's connecting, I start blabbing to the audience about anything. Between songs, talking about things in my personal life, or whatever. But there are other situations where I feel a little closed-off. It's really kind of a day-to-day thing.