Matt Skiba

“The feeling that you want the listener to get, you should get yourself when you first hit that chord, and that melody comes to mind.”

“Creating a record on my own and deciding who plays and how the songs were structured, it was fun to do.”

“I was always a punk rock skate kid from a very young age.”

“I'm the die-hard that still goes out to buy records.”

“There are just as many dirt bags in independent music as there are in major labels.”

“Rock n' roll is the Devil's music.”

“I love working with my band-mates in Alkaline Trio, but to make a rock record that was just mine was something that I wanted to do.”

“I'm in Alkaline Trio; I guess I get to rip off myself. I give myself permission.”

“The first line of the song is always the hardest thing to write. And then after that, the song should - unless it sucks - it should write itself.”

“The Ramones all hate each other, and they did it for decades. I wouldn't be able to do that. That would be like working at the bank or something.”

“To worship the devil, you have to believe in it first.”

“A cousin of mine was a graphic designer, and he took me as a kid to see Flesh for Lulu and Social Distortion in 1988 in Chicago.”

“I've been to the Bahamas before, and it's so crass. You land in Nassau, and the whole island is replete with beauty and culture, but there's a lot of poverty. It is a largely black population; then they build these places like Atlantis and The Cove that are walled off.”

“I think who I am as a person on and off the stage is always kind of the same thing, but I don't take a lot of things very seriously.”

“When you're 20, you think you know a lot more than you do.”

“Meditation has really done wonders for me personally and artistically.”

“I collect motorcycles and art.”

“I honestly couldn't have asked for or expected the amount of love and support I've received from a large majority of Blink's fans.”

“I dropped out of arts school because I didn't wanna stare at a computer all day - I get headaches.”

“I haven't eaten an animal in over twenty years!”