[on problems in the music business] Not gettin' paid - that's a good point. PAs that don't work, promoters that don't keep promises - that kind of stuff's the bane of every musician's life. Like, everybody goes through that, except maybe the uber-successful 100th of one-percent, you know? Pretty well every musician, if you want to keep playing, has to find a way to make it work. You have to be a jack of all trades.

Playing guitar and singing is like riding a bike: it's something I always do. One of my biggest influences - the guy I admire most, probably - is Pete Seeger. The guy's like ninety-three, and he's been doing it since he was fifteen, playing his banjo and writing songs and doing good things for people. I'm not saying I'm Pete Seeger, but I'll take a cue from him, one of the all-time greats.

I run into a lot of people who recognize me and say, 'You and your band, Joe, made a positive difference in my life'. And I think that's a great thing, that we effected some positive change with people. [Others] see punk rock as being like, a negative thing. Obviously you get that side early on, as portrayed by Sid Vicious.. [But] it's taught people that they can do things for themselves. Positive things. It's not the sound or the style or the hair or the clothes or this crazy nihilistic side.

Sometimes you get gigs that are really less than organized, [which] turn out to be the best shows because they just have this undeniable energy about 'em. You get one of those nights that you just can't duplicate, and people talk about those kinds of shows for years.