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I mean, there's a hell of a lot of grounds for protest, but you don't do it through music.

Early in my career, people wanted to hear music about protest, about trying to change things.

It wasn't my natural inclination to get into writing protest songs.

Other than Green Day, we haven't had a lot of protest music over the past few decades.

I think if I were over there in America, protest music would be more important. But I'm not going.

Protest is patriotic. Since the beginning of musical time, American singers and songwriters have used their talent and bully pulpits to show us America's strengths and shortcomings.

I don't want to spend all my time working as an activist. I don't get satisfaction out of it. I'd rather be doing something else. I'm a musician.

Any protester knows that the only way activism works is to get the people on your side.

An album is a thing you take time out and go work on.

To be honest, making albums is really never easy. It's always a bit excruciating because there's always this fight to make it great, and then you hit these stumbling blocks along the way.