I think I've just matured over the years.
I'd wear nice clothes and brush my teeth more often if I cared about what people thought.
Talking about myself is difficult for me. It's anti my true nature.
I was in Screaming Trees - I wasn't really interested in playing quiet music in a live setting. But I would get asked quite often to do a show or open for somebody, and I always said no. Finally, I was asked if I would open for Johnny Cash, and Johnny Cash was one of my dad's favorite heroes. So that's why I started doing solo shows.
The Trees was four complete nuts. We didn't have a damn thing in common except insanity. So we fought a lot. And we had two brothers - who fought like brothers.
It was really difficult to sing; nobody showed me how to do it. I remember early Screaming Trees shows in the '80s when I'd walk away with a pounding headache from trying to sing way out of my range.
When I was a kid in the late '60s and early '70s, my parents and their friends would play the records of Andy Williams, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Perry Como, music with string arrangements and men singing songs that sounded sad whether they were or not.
I'm about creating a body of work and moving on to the next thing.
I grew up in a small, rural community, where my extended family were mountain-folk type people, and some were very religious.
If I have one hero in music, it's John Cale.
I've always been haunted by the devastating voice and beautiful songs of Tim Hardin. I can't imagine anyone hearing him and not feeling the same.
I enjoy my own songs, but I can never love them in the way that I can love someone else's song.
Usually I get asked to do stuff that's cool, and if I ever can't do something, it's usually, because of logistics, I don't have the time for it. Rarely do I get ask to do something that I'd rather not do. I usually do it if I feel that it's something I can do.
Yeah, well, I guess Andy Williams would be considered by some to be schmaltzy, but to me, he's one of the greatest singers of all time. Just absolutely amazing. And if anyone doesn't believe me, just YouTube him. He's just one of a kind.
I didn't always enjoy playing music with the Trees.
The first music I heard that made me put away my comic books and make music was original punk.
It took me quite a while to find my natural voice. I'm glad I stuck around long enough to see that happen.
The Warriors team with Baron Davis, Matt Barnes, Stephen Jackson - that was an incredible team.
Soundgarden are good friends of mine.
I wanted 'Imitations' to be a fully realized record from start to finish, with a cohesive sound and a sequence that took you from one song to the other, just like I would with a record of original stuff.
