For me, it's about eating a bunch of fruit and exercising, which opens up the creativity, makes it easier to give ideas a chance and bubble to the surface. I'm no angel, but it helps me, as does hiking, heading to the ocean to catch some waves - for me, sweating it out is definitely good for the creative process.
I don't think we're any more preoccupied by life and death or heaven and hell than anyone else, but it's fun to write about the inevitable - you're alive, and you're going to die.
At an early age I told myself I would never quit skating; I would never quit riding BMX and being a motorcycle junkie. I just can't stop doing those things.
Touring with Blink helped introduce people to Alkaline Trio who otherwise wouldn't have ever heard of us.
I've done some stuff with Glenn Danzig before, and while I can't really say that we're friends, we're friendly acquaintances.
When George W. Bush was up for re-election, we took part in Rock Against Bush.
I went through some pretty rough patches in my life, and I've come out of them a stronger, more inspired, and energetic person.
We certainly are proud of our punk-rock heritage, but when people who like other kinds of music are into your band, it's flattering.
I miss the videos that are short films, back when MTV played videos all day.
Meditation has really done wonders for me personally and artistically.
I'm really thankful for the time that I grew up in that we didn't have cell phones, and we made a lot of our own fun.
With Alkaline Trio, we are who we are. We never really feel too confined, but when we get together, there is an Alkaline Trio sound, and when I go off and do something on my own, there is an element of freedom that I don't have with the Trio.
I was a bicycle messenger when Alkaline Trio was formed as a way to make ends meet before the band became a career, and I've just always been a cyclist - I BMX'd, and then I got really into - through messengering - I got really into road bikes and fixed gears, which I still have.
I think people hear the words 'transcendental meditation' and 'paganism,' and that's almost worse because it's real. Those are real things. Those are absolute energies. Satanism is like Halloween. Transcendental meditation and having a realization of how we really are - whether we want to be or not - we live in a pagan culture.
I first heard of Ulver reading the 'Lords of Chaos' book.
Creating a record on my own and deciding who plays and how the songs were structured, it was fun to do.
Death isn't something that should necessarily be glorified, but I also don't think it's something that people need to be afraid of. It's just the way it is. There's nothing we can do about it.
The Sekrets record is very much me, and Dan's Emergency Room is very much him. And then Alkaline Trio is very much ours.
Being a drummer definitely influences how I play guitar. And then piano influences drumming and vice versa.
There are things about this country that are horrible; there's things about this country that are beautiful. I've been almost everywhere, and there's nowhere else I'd rather live.
