My experience with Dino Jr. proved that making new music was a worthwhile pursuit.
I wrote a song for my sister's wedding.
At nine or ten, I was playing guitar in music class in my elementary school in Jackson, Michigan. They had a guitar class, and I played with ten of my classmates, and we did a little guitar orchestra for a school music.
I had a very strong 'revertigo' for becoming the kid that I was when I was in Dinosaur Jr. That's a pretty insecure place that I was in.
My family is the epicenter of my life.
Now, when I have a four-string that I take on the road with me, it's a regular Martin. I bought a decent Martin with a pickup in it, and then I just take off the strings and have four strings on it.
To bicker over what could have been is silly.
Coming back to Dinosaur Jr. and actually writing songs for the band was really intense for me.
I've been trying to cut down on caffeine because it seems to aggravate my middle-age-onset acne, but I'm too tired to care. I'm growing a beard to hide it.
I wrote 'Healthy Sick,' from our first LP, when I was 19. I'll happily play it till I'm 91 because it always feels good and truthful.
I'm the Folk Implosion's biggest fan.
At 12 or 13, I picked up a guitar because my mother made me learn how to play.
To be doing interviews in 2006 for a band I was kicked out of in 1989 - a band that I never thought I would play for again - in a way, it's weird.
That's what I've figured out over the years - the way I write makes people feel uncomfortable.
The first songs I ever wrote - my first, like, serious offerings - were all written on ukulele. It's always been a part of the way I write for a really long time.
If you put heavy, regular classic guitar strings on a baritone ukulele, it gets pretty low. It has a really nice, low, warm feel to it.
Someone who's a really good engineer is someone who's a little bit smarter than you but who also listens to you and doesn't impose agendas.
From when I young, a lot of the things I grappled with, with instruments, was how large they were. When someone places a large guitar in your lap, it's hard - I'd learned how to play a guitar when I was a kid, but I never really felt like I was in control.
I look forward to so many things about going to Japan. The shows are early. It's great! They're really early, so it helps make dealing with jetlag a little easier.
I think all food except for maybe pizza and Mexican food is better in Japan.
