“A band's first album's usually not great. When you made the first albu...” — John Darnielle Quote

A band's first album's usually not great. When you made the first album, you had a day job and you were still trying to be serious about it.

I write for a lot of places, so I'm on a lot of promo lists.

It's like fiction - the fact that somebody's telling you a story about people who didn't exist doesn't make the experience of the story any less real in your heart and mind. You go through heavy emotional responses to these stories, and wrestling is a similar thing - but it's happening in real space.

I watched 'Fame,' and I just love the choreography. It just gives me a place to be in another zone.

To be in a band with the other founding members that never sleep is inspiring. Questlove put out five books a year and deejays every night and still do the same day job that I do, only with more responsibility. It drives me to find a way to juggle it.

Up until 1995, I still had a day job that I hated. I was still personally involved in things in the 90s.

I've got so much going on in my day job. And I've been around politics enough to know all the swirl that's fit to print, and so I focus on the reality of the here and now.

All musicians need a day job in the beginning. Unless they still live with their parents, I guess. I'm just lucky that my day job is simply another form of art.