Q: Why a solo album? Didn't you fear animosity from your bandmates?
A: I had a lot of songs that were very personal, and I wanted to try them myself, do the instrumentation slightly differently, make my own choices about what to put underneath them. We're always supportive, we're tight knit. At the same time, you can't help but feel a little bit of apprehension trying to do something different.

Q: Are you worried that because it's just you, people might be tempted to think that it's your autobiography?
A: A little. A lot of it is really personal, but not all. It's written a lot in the first person - I tend to do that.

Q: You've said that you don't like to discuss lyrics. Why?
A: I've said that a millon times today! I do sometimes - occasionally I'll describe what a song is about, but only if it's in a setting where I believe that I'm actually going to be able to describe what the song's about, and it's going to be written about, in the way I described it. Interviews are five second sound bites, and you're asked to describe an entire song. You want it to be at least as interesting as the way you wrote it. [Also] you make a choice whether you believe that the interviewer is gonna take some soundbite of that and mutate it. The last thing I want is wrong impressions of the songs that are there. I'd rather not give them at all.

Q: But if you don't explain your lyrics, won't thay natually be misunderstood?
A: Yeah, but they won't be misunderstood because somebody thinks that I told them that was my meaning, so that's their understanding.

Q: At least tell us about "babyskin tattoo."
A: "Babyskin," mostly it's a European term for a young skinhead. My twist on that is a babyskin tattoo is the imprint of a racist ideology on a young person before they have a chance to form their own opinions. The song's about being imprinted when your too young to know any better. You're indoctrinated and you take on a belief system without questions, that you know nothing about. It's not necessarily a fault, but it's somebody's fault.

Q: Does this have anything to do with your university degree in political science?
A: Well, some things do - everything you do in your life feeds in, right?

Q: Was politics your original career goal?
A: I don't know. I was always inspired by music, but I never had a rock star goal.

Q: Politics aside, there are many disturbing ideas in this album - some of the lyrics are downright crude. Are you worried about the messages you're sending, considering that a large chunk of the people buying your album are young Moist fans?
A: Yeah, but there's a darkness in the world, there's things that aren't nice - [it] doesn't mean that you don't want to talk about them. People can take it. Being an artist is balancing: you have certain social responsibilities and you don't want to promote things that are going to hurt people. At the same time, I want to talk about things that are important, and interest me. I'm going to talk about some of those things, sometimes very candidly.

Q: Let's veer away from David Usher the musician - like, is there David Usher the bowler?
A: No... I don't do very much. It's more like: David Usher the coffee drinker who hangs out with his friends.

Q: Hobbies?
A: You're going to find this ridiculous, but Paul [Wilcox, Moist drummer] and I are into ultimate fighting.

Q: Which is...
A: Like, full contact bloodsport stuff. Martial art kickboxing with no rules.

Q: Where do you and Paul play?
A: We don't paly them, we watch them!

Q: Oh, I thought it was you against Paul!
A: No! God he's kill me! He's an animal!!

Q: Where do you go to look for something like that? Is it underground, like chicken fights? 'Cause those are pretty...
A: Yeah, that's revolting. But nobody dies in this, so it's ok. Go to "Ultimate fighting championship" on the web and you'll find out all about it.

Q: Speaking of which, I found something very disturbing on the net: "David Usher was once in a rap band called True Hype Crew, where, in their first video, he wore an orange turtleneck, a leather hat, his hair in a ponytail, and he danced really funny." [www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Stage/3289/moist.html]
A: (laughs) I did that for university.

Q: If we send in an RSVP request to Much do you think They'd play it?
A: No!

Q: Did you breakdance or freestyle?
A: I was just, sort of, rolling around.

Q: What was your biggest insecurity in high school?
A: I was in high school before the Benetton generation came along, before it was hip to be bi-racial. To be a half-breed. It was a much different world then, because it wasn't cool, you know?

Q: So you had to deal with racism?
A: Of course. That and also being from two religions, neither of which are Christian, was also difficult. At the same time, those things, like everything, make you grow as a person, hopefully, or it puts you in a shell. One or the other.

Q: What was your scene in high school, where did you fit in?
A: Between sort of an artsy group and a preppy group. I was sort of a floater.

Q: Not a jock?
A: No way! I don't know anything about sports! I'm not into any other sport [except] bloodsport. I can't understand any of them!!