I have a lot of compassion for everybody, even fake Tegan, honestly. Life’s hard. The world’s hard. Navigating this is hard. We all have issues.

I think stress ages us the most, and stressing about food is the worst. I eat a high-fat diet because it gives me the most energy and makes me think about food less. I can't be obsessing about food all day if I'm hungry because I only ate a salad. I also like feeling full. I will eat a donut if it makes me have a happy day. And for me, eating things that are considered 'bad' is part of what really gets me motivated to work out [laughs]. At this point in my life, I'll take what I can get.

I'm a lazy writer. My idea of heaven is not writing. On the other hand, I'm obviously compulsive about it.

I think one of the best things that art can do is to shine a light on dark places, and to hold something up and say: 'This hasn't gone unnoticed. We see this, and we're going to say something about it.'

Boy, being a parent is a hard job, I think, because in parenting you want your kids to like you. Too much sometimes. It’s a hard line to find between doing what’s necessary to give them the tools to be good kids and make good decisions and all that, versus just completely not giving them a chance to accomplish anything because you do everything for them. I kind of feel like it’s okay if these kids go out and make a few mistakes, because they’re going to learn. The last ten years have been interesting, because I’m a stepparent to three kids, and I’m a father to two kids, an older and a younger. And it’s a real interesting dynamic.

I think some of the best advice I got as a young session musician — the first time I played on something — they came back and said, “Now just play me half of what you know. Okay, that was impressive, but that’s not what I need here.” So it’s really an exercise on what’s best going to serve the work in front of you, what’s the job that will do that the best.