Quotes from Matt Skiba

I think people hear the words 'transcendental meditation' and 'paganism,' and that's almost worse because it's real. Those are real things. Those are absolute energies. Satanism is like Halloween. Transcendental meditation and having a realization of how we really are - whether we want to be or not - we live in a pagan culture.

At an early age I told myself I would never quit skating; I would never quit riding BMX and being a motorcycle junkie. I just can't stop doing those things.

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

They're great players. I'm not a Blues Traveler fan, though. I get it, but it's not for me.

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

In this day and age, though, no matter how many people you play for, if you're playing with a band like Blink, millions of people will see it thanks to YouTube and everything recording it.

I was a bicycle messenger when Alkaline Trio was formed as a way to make ends meet before the band became a career, and I've just always been a cyclist - I BMX'd, and then I got really into - through messengering - I got really into road bikes and fixed gears, which I still have.

The Sekrets record is very much me, and Dan's Emergency Room is very much him. And then Alkaline Trio is very much ours.

With Alkaline Trio, we are who we are. We never really feel too confined, but when we get together, there is an Alkaline Trio sound, and when I go off and do something on my own, there is an element of freedom that I don't have with the Trio.

For Alkaline Trio, Chicago is our hometown. The band started there. Even though we all live in different cities now, we still call Chicago home, and it's always really exciting to come back and play for our best crowd.

Orange County encompasses a large area that has a lot of Alkaline Trio fans.

Touring with Blink helped introduce people to Alkaline Trio who otherwise wouldn't have ever heard of us.

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

We were fans of Green Day and Nirvana or whatever, but the bands we really loved were Chicago bands that didn't really sound anything like Alkaline Trio.

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.

Everyone who signed us to Epic, all of the people we trusted there, were let go.

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.

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

As far as, like, the moon landing... did we go there? I believe so. Is it everything that we're told? I don't think so.

I collect motorcycles and art.

I think I'm a man about the things I need to be a man about, but I get paid to play, pretty much. I do what I love for a living, and I also get to build BMX bikes in my spare time.

I loved anything spooky, mysterious, or frightening.

It feels really good to be doing Blink justice. Stepping on stage for the first show was pretty crazy. I've been skydiving several times, and that's the closest thing I can compare it to. Such a beautiful rush.

There are things about this country that are horrible; there's things about this country that are beautiful. I've been almost everywhere, and there's nowhere else I'd rather live.