Three thousand people singing back your songs is an incredible feeling.

The papers, you know, they're always gonna just make stuff up. They think it's in the public interest.

Before I was 12 years old, I had no interest in music; I was just into football. Then I heard Don McLean's 'Vincent' come on at the end of an episode of 'The Simpsons.' You know when you hear something and you don't understand why you like it, you just do? That's how I felt. I just thought, 'I want to be able to write songs like that.'

As a songwriter, it's very hard to listen to music that's not coming from the heart and soul, personally.