My kids and I live like three fun-loving hermits. We're quite bohemian.
I know a lot of people who transitioned and dropped out of society for two years. They don't talk to anybody. They become hermits. They try to do everything alone.
I use to live on this street when I was a kid where there was an old person retirement home, and all of the old people would listen to that band Herman's Hermits, and they would wear white nursing shoes. And they would throw away stacks of VHS tapes, and I would go through the trash and take them.
I grew up listening to pop; I grew up listening to '60s pop music, the Beatles, the Monkees, Herman's Hermits and all that stuff. So I had a very strong background of listening to great pop music.
My understanding of current music stopped in 2006, so I am continually inspired by music from the past. Three Dog Night, Harry Nilsson, Bob Dylan, Herman's Hermits, Association, Eagles, Beatles, Stones, Turtles, Animals... this list goes on forever.
Ben and I live like hermits. The night of a concert, we'll be like, 'Do you think we can get tickets?' And everybody is like, 'No, why didn't you do this earlier?'
There have always been hermits: people who want to get away from other humans. Literally, some of the first extant books and poems found in Mesopotamia and China mention people living alone in the woods. It's this primal fascination that exists across all cultures and all times.
In an odd sort of way, the computer and the Internet is the hermit's ideal form of communication. You don't have to see anyone. To send an email, you don't have to talk to anyone. You can just send it, and they'll read it on their own. The Internet has been really good for hermits.
New York has more hermits than will be found in all the forests, mountains and deserts of the United States.
People who are alone all the time never grow. Those hermits just stay the same. It's only through relationships. Relationships change us and make us grow.
