BRANDON BOYD

I feel like a little kid who just walked into a candy store. I think that's something to smile about.

I am here on Earth to express myself, and the many media of art are my magic carpets that allow me the freedom to do so.

Music is the medium that has taken me around the world, and I would be lying if I said I could live without music.

I've been painting and drawing and taking pictures as long as I've been writing music - and I've actually been drawing longer than I've been writing music.

I'll make music, whether or not anyone is listening, for the rest of my life. It's a natural form of expression for me, the same way I draw and write and sing.

Music has always been my back door to life. It is important for people to find something that excites them. I like the concept that if you do what excites you, you will be rewarded generously, whatever form reward takes, which is not necessarily money.

To me, it's like the difference between a pen and a paintbrush. Music draws from almost the identical place as art does, which really is that intangible - it's like you're pulling from the ether. I don't know where it comes from. Nobody really does. It sort of arrives when it wants to.

I think that there is something beautiful about mortality. It makes our decisions mean more.

I suggest we learn to love ourselves before it's made illegal.

As a surfer, I am interested in the ocean. And I am concerned and interested in all of these natural and cultural rumblings underfoot as well.

Very rarely is there any confusion as to when a painting or a song is finished. You just know when it's done.

Music is a lot more like solving an intricate puzzle with moments of pure, random creative bliss... whereas painting is much more purely random creative bliss with moments of problem solving.

Female artists are the perfect example of a creator: They know how to make life and art with their bodies. Life comes from their bodies, so on a very basic level, they have more to write about.

I have been drawing and creating visual works my entire life, as long as I can remember.

Music draws from almost the identical place as art does, which really is that intangible - it's like you're pulling from the ether. I don't know where it comes from.

There are many ways to experience love. It can feel like a knife in your back, or it can feel like you're being lifted up by winged creatures towards a beautiful blinding light.

I'm sure we'll be Tweetin' up the Twitosphere as we travel around the world playing music.

Drawing and visual pursuits were first. Music came and found me in a way. Really, what it's about is creative problem solving, and music is a lot more an expression of that than painting is for me.

Men have a lot less to write about, unless you're somebody like Tom Waits or John Lennon. And the female voice is much more suited to melody. Men have this barky thing - we're domesticated apes with a microphone.

What's interesting is a lot of the older music when we start performing it, it acts a lot like muscle memory. It's kind of like riding a bike. For me as a singer, I just had to remember like what part of my face I sang that into.

I have always idolized eccentric people.

No one's played on the moon yet. No one's played in zero gravity. Some bands have played at the Pyramids of Giza, but we'd very much like to do that in the near future.

I follow a dairy-free and gluten-free diet, which can be challenging in some places.

Surf is something I have been obsessed with since I was a child.

We are very fortunate to live in this country, but at the same time, the reason the forces are so much more destructive here is because they are faceless.