Musician

I always reference 'Mad Max' when I think about what I want to wear. But it's a fine line between that and 'Edward Scissorhands'.

L.A. is a vortex. The weather there tricks you into thinking you're on vacation, even when you're working fourteen hours a day.

Religion is never the problem; it's the people who use it to gain power.

I think a lot of people study the rules too much and then don't know how to be creative.

It find it funny how people from Boston and New York hate each other because of pro teams.

You know some of the people in The Strokes, yeah, their parents had success - but we didn't live like yuppies.

A tour is the most intense, stimulating way to hear music; it's the best form to receive it. There's genuine excitement from people. I feel like we've stepped up a level.

I mean, I guess you could say I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

I would prefer it if people thought that I didn't work hard, that I just played the guitar for three minutes a week and was like, 'Check out this song - what do you think?' That would be ideal. I would prefer telling people that I'm just truly talented.

Compared to people in Africa, I think we've all had privileged upbringings.

I always want to make Strokes records and play Strokes shows.

Vanity can easily overtake wisdom. It usually overtakes common sense.

If it doesn't start with you, it dies with you.

Songwriting is hard - it's so easy to fall into the same traps. It's not like I wake up and songs flow out of me.

I don't really care about clothes, but it's about wearing something that gives you social confidence.

New York is in my soul.

I'm happy to feed the illusion that I'm a lazy recluse.

People often put me in a V-neck tennis club sweater, driving a Bentley, but my life wasn't like that.

Making an album can be like being pregnant: you want to pop that thing out and show everybody!

Who you are vs. who you wish you were: Who wins?