I'm just competitive. Everybody always says, 'You've gotta be crazy to do what you do. ' It's not really true. Everything we do. . . is always about trying to out-do your friends. Trying to one-up, be a little faster, a little better, jump a little further.
A pretty pivotal moment for me was having a songwriting class with Paul McCartney when I was at LIPA, and then being called in a few days later by the headmaster of the school to tell me that Paul McCartney likes what I'm doing.