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I didn't know if I could write sober, I didn't know if I'd destroyed my brain, y'know? And I really wasn't up for finding that out, y'know, a week into sobriety. I figured I'd like to see what planet I'm on, see how things work in this new world, and...so I did, I took some time off. That was in 2001 and shortly thereafter 9/11 and the world seemed crazy and er, I was grateful to be present for all that and I took care of myself and I did what I was told to do and I wanted to get to the bottom of what kind of madness was at work inside me, aside from being an addict, things that kind of pushed me in that direction, that turned those things to get through life. I just started a lot of work on myself and I was doing some other musical projects, none of which kind of panned out.

The Tapeworm thing just didn't turned out the way we'd hoped. Worked on Zach De La Rocha's record and that went well but that's never going to see the light of day I don't think. I produced the 12 Rounds record but my label was dying so we couldn't put it out. And it got to the point where I was ready to now.

See what the deal was, y'know, I felt good about myself and I wanted to see where my art was at. And, um, I decided for a change of scenery so I rented a house out here in LA. In January of 2000...at the very end of 2003, in January I started a disciplined kind of writing project. Two songs every 10 days with finished lyrics and by May I had 25 songs I thought were really good. And I'd found that not only can I write I can also think...and I thought I've got all these superpowers now y'know, I've got a brain that I forgot I had."

Transcribed by Frankie

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