My music has to do with beauty, and it’s intended to, if not lift the spirits, then be a kind of a balm to the spirits.
Songwriting, I have to take myself away from everybody to do. It’s an unsightly act.
Texting is apocalyptic on some level. It’s a reduction of things.
The more information you have, the more human our heroes become and consequently the less mysterious and godlike. They need to be godlike.
The problem with books, now that I’ve written one, is that the idea of adaptation is so much easier than sitting down to write something new.
To my undying shame, I do read reviews. I don’t read them all, but I like to get some kind of idea how things are going.
What you’re really after when you see a film or listen to a song is a singular vision, and I’m not sure how much of that you really get in Hollywood.
Writing is a necessary thing for me, just to keep myself level. It has beneficial effects on my life.
Kylie Minogue is the greatest thing that has happened to Australian music.
It’s an Australian thing to be dismissive. We find that endearing. Americans don’t. They believe what you say.
I write hate lyrics really well. It’s not every day you can use them, really.
I’m a big fan of teatowels and am always on the lookout for a good one.
I’m an Australian, and when I grew up much of my influences were American – blues music and country music, all that sort of thing.
I’m hugely self-critical in the morning.
I’m kind of old-school and love nothing more than sitting, opening a book, and reading it. But I also love listening to audio books.
I’m not a misogynist, so you can dispense with that. I think I’ve done wonders for the feminist movement.
I’ve always had an obligation to creation, above all.
I’ve always hated narrative songs. I hate those songs where, basically, it’s an unfolding of a story.
If I’m hanging around too much, my wife and kids say, ‘Hey, why don’t you go downstairs and start a new novel?’
If you took love out of the equation, I wouldn’t know what else to write about.