We've been polarizing for different reasons. For one thing, my voice is very polarizing. It sits in this place that either appeals to people or really puts people off. I can understand that.
— Davey Havok
Los Angeles has always been very supportive of us.
Due to the world I've been part of in creating art for so many years, I feel really connected to pop culture and what younger people are talking about.
I love Baz Luhrmann.
I'm very grateful that anyone takes the time to read what I write, coming from people perceive to be exclusively a musical background and having no traditional schooling in writing.
When we make a record, we don't discuss how we are planning on doing it. It's a very natural and organic growth.
As far as fiction goes, as far as everything from Dr. Seuss to Oscar Wilde to Bret Easton Ellis. Ray Bradbury. There's just tons of stuff that I love. Neil Gaiman!
Straight edge came out of the hardcore scene. I don't necessarily believe, as some people believe, that you have to be a part of the hardcore scene to share that philosophy and stance against recreational drug use. But it is where it came from, and it is where it influenced me to be a part of it.
Ska is fine. Punk is fine. Putting those two together drove us crazy.
That type of autograph, pictures and apparel thievery was not part of what I grew up with. I loved the artists and their music. I would be thrilled to meet them, but the thought of getting a scribble or stealing an article of clothing never occurred or appealed to me.
It's a wonderful side effect of what we're doing, to give someone the strength to come out of the closet to their family, or simply present themselves aesthetically in a way they feel happy with, whether or not their friends are going to be allowed to like them anymore.
I find drug use disrespectful, self-destructive, and weak. I want no part of it.
When I was sent to public school, I was relieved that I could wear what I wanted to wear.
I mean that'd be great if we could continue to be staples of alt-rock radio. I don't take that for granted.
People do get ridiculed for liking us or because they look the way they do and they're a part of what we do.
We've always been a polarizing band.
Historically speaking, the books I usually connect with the most are written in first-person narrative.
To me, 'Crash Love' is the most stripped-down record that we've made since the early Nineties, and I would say that 'I Hope You Suffer' is indicative of the overall tone of this record in being the opposite of that.
With anything you do and you dedicate yourself to and you dedicate thousands and thousands of hours, eventually you're gonna get a little bit better at it unless there's some innate impairment preventing that.
I think sometimes people have a different idea of what starting a band is going to be.
The 'Burials' title really speaks to all the different levels that are on the record. It speaks to silence and panic and anxiety and loss of self and isolation and those different levels of hiding.
We grew up listening to so much hardcore: everything from the very early D.C. stuff - Teen Idols, Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, SOA, Government Issue - to bands who weren't straight edge, like Negative Approach. I really feel they were one of the greatest punk bands ever.
Whatever show I go to, no matter what it is - and I go to a lot of them - people say, 'Wow, I'd never expect to see you here.' I always say, 'Where do you expect to see me?'
I attribute a lot of the success to Live 105, of course, because it's something they've nurtured and grown.
There are only a few places that I go where people recognize me anyway. I have to be at the right place, in the right city. It's not really that much of an issue.
I was the freak who moved into the nice neighborhood.
I became a vegetarian out of compassion for animals and to live as healthy as possible. I realized soon after that I was truly concerned with nonviolent consumption and my own health, a vegan diet was the best decision.
For us, the pressure comes from internal matter of having recorded eight records.
I just heard a story from someone the other day where somebody was beaten up by Christians for wearing one of our shirts. Of course, that's a very Christian thing to do.
I grew up watching MTV, so it's very surreal to me to think that there might be someone out there watching MTV, looking at us the way I used to look at Davis Madonna and Duran Duran videos.
My worst fashion failure was when I wore tight PVC pants, and I had a show in Eugene, Oregon... my pants split down the center.
Being a musician has actually surrounded and immersed me in pop culture and youth culture from a very young age. But even before I was singing in bands and creating any kind of art, I was always fascinated by pop culture.
I'm part of a healthful movement, and very aware of what I put into my body, and my body's upkeep. And that will lead you to exercise.
For anyone to take the time to care about what I write and read a book is so flattering to me because it's fun.
I think, a lot of times, bands will break up because their goal is commercial success, and most bands aren't going to get that: it's out of their control. If you do, you're one of the lucky ones, but that commercial success will likely fade, and you'll end up breaking up anyway.
I have an affinity towards extremes.
Even within the context of the alternative scene I was a part of, within punk and hardcore and the alt scene, there was a focus on self-destruction.
I've never been drunk. I've never even had a beer.
But when I cut off my hair I even had friends not recognize me.
I heard recently that I used to date Patrick Swayze.
I'm an extremist, I have to deal with my own extreme personality, and I walk the fine line of wanting to die and wanting to be the ruler of it all.
Personally I have never found the practice of recreational drug use appealing. In fact, I have always found the lifestyle and the people who surround it to be abhorrent.
As far commercial success, I don't think that's a focus but it's not that we don't enjoy that. It's not something you can attempt and achieve.
I've heard there are vegan corn dogs - I don't know if that's true but, jeez, I'd love to eat one of them.
The people who send us fan mail written in blood say the nicest things, so it doesn't freak us out too much.
