Where does the title come from — Realism?
Well, it’s a description of the production style, as is Distortion.


Is there anything else more to it or ...
No,
it doesn’t intersect with the lyrics, if that’s what you mean. Somebody
pointed out to me a few days ago that an unusual number of mythological
characters are on the album, so there’s actually less realism than
usual.

Gotcha. And you’re taking the album on the road?
Yeah. We’re probably just doing half the songs from Realism and a lot of older songs.

And as a performer, what do you prefer? Singing live or recording or writing?
Well, performing live is my least favorite aspect of being a musician.

Why?
Because
there are thousands of people staring at you and you can’t just walk off
and go to the bathroom. You have to stand there doing what you plan to
do for two hours. And it’s pretty much the same thing every night.
Notice that I’m putting this in second-person perspective, which is
what people do in interviews when they’re saying uncomfortable truths
about themselves. I particularly don’t like touring. It would be nice
if you could then go home after a show ... but you can’t.