Brendan Kelly talks lyrics, Goo Goo Dolls, movies, TV and more

The Inertia has posted a particularly in-depth interview with The Lawrence Arms and Wandering Birds' own Brendan Kelly. The article talks about everything from the Goo Goo Dolls influence on his vocals, Van Halen, Billie Joe (of Green Day,) Tyler the Creator, Louie, Groundhog Day and much more.

Lyrics are a major part of the interview, with Kelly defending a recent lyric-related Internet controversy - which you could probably generalize to cover other forms of entertainment too:

Tegan and Sara's [Sara Quinn] came out with this huge internet ramble about how she can't believe people are okay with Tyler The Creator, talking about raping people. Since when does singing about raping someone mean that you're raping someone?" It's insulting to the audience to say- I mean, I listened to N.W.A. constantly when I was a kid, and I have never once held a gun in someone's face, slapped a bitch... It's completely fucking ridiculous to me that people are like, "Oh, if the audience is glorifying that kind of behavior, people are gonna be out there doing that kind of shit." Well, those people are stupid assholes who are gonna be doing something stupid anyway.

He also quotes Billie Joe Armstrong on the subject of lyrics saying:

So I was thinking about this interview I read with Billie Joe Armstrong around '99, and he said something to the effect of: "The way I know if my lyrics are good is if I'm nervous to sing them in front of people."

Check out the whole thing here.