KAREN O

I plead total ignorance to Led Zeppelin. I am totally in the dark about them.

I'm not a 21-year-old angsty self-destructive rapscallion anymore.

I'm not a quitter. I believe in following things through.

Well, Freddie Mercury is a really huge rock star in my head. I've always thought he was just so tough and such an amazing entertainer, really a contradiction in many ways as well. So he was incredible.

For me, California is all about rest, relaxation, space.

It's insane how quickly everything's changed. I always feel like I'm running hard to catch up.

I'm in the camp that needs to discover and take risks, sometimes it's with the promise of something special and new, sometimes it's to stay awake, either way it's much more stressful with all the uncertainty but worth the pain in the end.

Being on the road with rock, it's pretty much 90 percent guys.

You have to open up on stage.

I feel like there's a hunger in the culture now for the live experience maybe as a counterpoint to the more sort of synthetic lives that we've been living.

I'm not a 21-year-old angsty self-destructive rapscallion anymore.

Sophomore records are historically really difficult.

Bands that I've loved over the years are the ones that have a certain myth around them.

Being on the road with rock, it's pretty much 90 percent guys.

I love bass, I really do. Bass is ace!

You have to open up on stage.

For me, California is all about rest, relaxation, space.

I feel like there's a hunger in the culture now for the live experience maybe as a counterpoint to the more sort of synthetic lives that we've been living.

I'm in the camp that needs to discover and take risks, sometimes it's with the promise of something special and new, sometimes it's to stay awake, either way it's much more stressful with all the uncertainty but worth the pain in the end.

I plead total ignorance to Led Zeppelin. I am totally in the dark about them.

Working pretty much nonstop as an artist, the hardest thing is to know what to do with yourself when you have some time off. You struggle with yourself to take a vacation.

I'm not a quitter. I believe in following things through.

My onstage persona really is a persona, you know, and really the moment I step onstage, it kind of kicks into gear.

I was a complete outsider in high school.

Yeah, I can't separate the art from the music and the music from the art. I think that stems from going to school for film first, and kind of stumbling onto music as my career.

I feel like every five to seven years I really need to put myself in this position of discomfort and exploration, just to survive. Otherwise I feel like I'm falling asleep, like I'll go crazy if I don't do it.

I was just totally taken by Michael Jackson when I was a little kid, like everyone else.

Well, Freddie Mercury is a really huge rock star in my head. I've always thought he was just so tough and such an amazing entertainer, really a contradiction in many ways as well. So he was incredible.

I'm making sure to cover all the bases. Like, I've always wanted a leather jacket like Michael Jackson's in "Thriller" since I was a kid. I'm trying to incorporate a lot of elements of pop culture that I've always revered or was really into when I was young.

It's insane how quickly everything's changed. I always feel like I'm running hard to catch up.

I try to sing whatever the music makes me feel. And we play so much music from the other records at shows that I hope no one will miss the old style too much.