I remember I wanted to be Zorro, but I also wanted to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. I obviously had ideas above my station.

Charts and learning the politics behind making a record - it's pretty soulless.

Sometimes when you get frustrated, your back is against the wall, and you come out fighting and knock out three songs in as many days.

The way you react to each challenge forms who you become.

I remember having my father stand over me when I had driven over my own foot; one leg was out of the car and one leg was in the car. He looked at me and told me that I was a drunk and that he was ashamed to call me his son. That night, I stopped drinking and I never drank again; I was twenty four.

No one in my circle calls me 'Travis.' Even my family, at a young age started calling me 'Travie.' So I want people to feel comfortable calling me 'Travie.' It's almost like inviting people in.

Qinghua was first established as a preparatory school in 1911. In 1928, it became a university. In 1929, my father joined Qinghua as a professor, so that was also the year that I moved to that campus because my father brought the whole family along.

I had no fun. My family was too serious.