I personally like music that speaks to me about my life - not my fantasies - not my ego. When a band writes a song and I can say "that's how I feel - that's what I think - that's my experience," it creates a kind of community. Loneliness, or better still, aloneness, is a basic emotion we all share to varying degrees, and the music that appeals to me is the type that eases that aloneness.

We are capable of the worst thing that's ever happened in the history of the world. But I think the thing we've got going for us is that historically the pendulum always swings back - and there's always a reaction to that kind of insanity. I'm very patriotic, but I'm patriotic to the human being rather than the flag they stand under.