Do you aspire to star in or make films down the road?
Maybe, someday. It was cool when we shot [a music] video the other day. It was nice to get back into that world for one day.
Is this the shoot for ''Who Are You'' that you got injured in?
Oh yeah. This video is about this little nerdy high school kid who asks the hot girl in school to dance with him at the homecoming dance. Then her boyfriend just beats this kid up. So the band jumps off stage to defend him. The director was like, ''Just jump over the camera and land on the side of the stage.'' I was in midair when I was throwing the guitar to the left when I looked down and realized that the camera was right below me. I took a bad tumble on my ankle. Five feet down. I got a cast and everything...a bottle of Vicodin that is yet to be touched. The idea of getting used to Vicodin during my record release week sounds like the start of a bad Behind the Music.
Has there been anything that you've released that you later go, ''What was that all about?'' Or, ''I would have done that differently''?
[Laughs] That's why three of the songs on the EPs ended up on the record — because I was able to rerecord them. I feel like the EPs were like playing triple-A baseball. With this record, I was able to get into the majors a little bit. The fact that there's growth [is] important to me. You know, they're all my kids. I can't not like my kids.
How facetious were you being at your record release party, when you said you've had enough failed relationships and therefore enough material to support an album — as opposed to more EPs?
Part of the reason I was able to finish the record was because I finally got in a good relationship. My guitar has always been my therapist. I felt like that was a big thing for me to get over: the idea of the tortured artist bulls---. I know a lot of people who try to live in pain so they can write good songs. It doesn't have to be that way.
Do you think that ''Blue Eyes'' is going to become that song that you love but also resent because it was sort of pivotal point in your career?
Absolutely. ''Blue Eyes'' is a song that I wrote years and years ago. In like 15 minutes for an ex-girlfriend for a Valentine's present. It's very honest and every single line of that thing is real and true. I definitely had a love/hate relationship with that song for a while. I just can't tell you how many times I've played ''Blue Eyes.''
It's always like, Oh, and here's the guy who plays ''Blue Eyes.''
Right. But I'd rather them say that than, ''Who the hell is this guy?''
What are some artists who've been influences in your music?
I grew up in Nashville surrounded by country music in what I considered a bad period of country music. Pre-Garth Brooks. Now, I really respect country a lot. Two things that really affected me: R.E.M., because they were Southerners who were doing something unlike anything anybody else in the south. It made me think, okay, if those guys can do it then maybe I have hope. And I really went across the pond [to the] U.K. [back] then: Stone Roses, Smith, Cure, New Order. As far as pure idol, Peter Gabriel has been big for me.
Peter Gabriel was the master of rad videos back when they were actually still a lot of fun to watch and they were getting played.
That's the thing. For the Last Kiss soundtrack we did a little video for ''Ride.'' We just went out to a trailer park and shot it in a couple of hours. It was a pretty low budget. This was the first time I actually sent the song out to directors for treatment. And I guess they were trying to appeal to my ego or something — these treatments were like, It's you standing on a hill, smoke machine and just you and a guitar. And sunset. Cut to a hot model in a room surrounded by needles and pills just thinking about you. All of them had the hot model concept. I was like, What?
