What's the most embarrassing album you own?
Aw, I’m really not ashamed of anything I own.
What song do you wish you’d written?
I don’t think there’s any one song. Well, I wish I’d written "I Wish" by Stevie Wonder. I wish I’d written "I Wish."
What’s the first album you bought?
Run DMC’s "Raising Hell."
And the most recent?
Guns 'n Roses’ Greatest Hits. Slash is still the best guitarist in the entire world.
What was the best concert you’ve ever seen live?
Well, the most significant was Lauryn Hill.
It
was just the most amazing and the biggest-sounding. She’s just the
coolest performer and has so much power in her voice, and how she
carries herself, the pain in her music—it just blew me away.
Do you have any musically inclined relatives?
My uncle wrote "San Antonio" for Tanya Tucker, and that’s how I sort of got introduced to the music business.
And you grew up in LA. Do you still hang out in the same places you used to, now that you’re famous?
I’ve lived here my whole life. It just feels like an extension of high school. But I get more attention now.
When you were accepting the Grammy, what was going through your mind? How to avoid Kanye West?
Kanye’s great, man. But no. I was just genuinely shocked.
What would you be doing if you weren’t playing in a band?
This
is all I’ve ever wanted to do. I’m not going to put too much pressure
on myself to deliver, though. I’m not worrying too much about anything,
I’ve already achieved more than I’ve ever imagined. So I don’t know
what I’d do with myself.
So tell the truth. Are you going to buy Paris Hilton’s new album?
No. Well—no.