SOY: Who first inspired you to be a musician?

ED: I'd have to say when I was 5 years old, a friend of my mom's daughter, she was about 3 years older than me. I remember singing to songs on the radio with her like Sonny and Cher and I used to lip sync all the time with her and one day she told me to get some kahonies and open up my mouth and sing. I realize at that point that I actuall could sing in tune and I love to sing ever since I was 5 so that's the answer to that. I guess who the person was is inconsequential -- it was just a friend.

SOY: How did you come to appear in an ad for Iomega? Are they fans of the band or do they just think that you represent 'generation x'?

ED: There's a lot of people talking about the Iomega ad where I appear. Just to let everybody know they used my image, they use my face without my permission and we are suing them. It's the first lawsuit that we've ever gotten involved in but it really pissed us off because they used it without asking. Once -- and if -- we get any kind of settlement from it, we're going to donate it. It's just corporations sometimes feel they can do whatever they want and we are suing them.

SOY: What prompted your interest in Hinduism, and which Krishnamurti texts are on your list of required reading?

ED: I found Krishnamurti in a bookstore in York one summer when I was 18, I think. Out of his books I would probably get 'The Awakening of Intelligence' is a really good one to get because it's really thick. You spend like $15 bucks and you get like 300, 400 pages and it's really great. Really anything that he directly wrote like the commentaries on living are really great and 'You Are The World' and 'Freedom from the Known' are really good ones.

SOY: Hope this doesn't count as a silly question .. but do you have a special someone in your life?

ED: Yes, I have a girlfriend that I've been involved in for a year and it's one of the coolest thing that's ever happened to me - besides the band.

SOY: I would like you to once and for all clear up the Hitler on the Top song reference and any Nazi referrals.

ED: I've been really anxious to clear up this thing about the lyrics to Top. A lot of times I write lyrics in a very stream of conciousness kind of way and in no way is the Hitler referal in that song sympathy at all. I think if you know our history, you would probably know that. The way the lyrics go, the song is really about leaders in general and people's affection for them and I think that you can insert any leader, any ideological megalomaniac in place of Hitler, and for that matter, any leader - any religious leader or political leader; because the song is really about personal responsibility and it's not about Hitler or the Nazis in particular. That was just what I decided to write about that day. The word "Hitler" in the "robe of truth" - the phrase "Hitler in a robe of truth" is real because that's what the German people gave to him - a robe of truth, he was their deliverer and he was going to deliver them from all their pain and it ended up being a catastrophe, the holocast and everything. The song's about liberating yourself from leaders and that kind of influence.

SOY: Who the heck is that "Ah instructed you" guy?

ED: For all the people who want to know about the sample of the guy that says "I instructed you" and all that in White, Discussion - it is taken from a shortwave radio broadcast of a guy somewhere in Colorado, I think. I don't know for sure because I don't know much about the radio, and I just heard him and taped him one day because I thought he had an amazing voice. So there's no more mystery to that!

SOY: Just wondered what significance the iris of the eye has for you, you seem to mention it a few times in your songs.

ED: I really believe in that cliche "the eyes are the window to the soul." I think that eyes are beautiful and you can tell everything by a person's eyes. To me, irises, and eyes in particular are important to me in my life. So that's it!

SOY: What year and color is your Les Paul? I think it's one of the neatest colors, kinda plain in a utilitarian sort of way..

ED: I bought my Les Paul for $600 in a second hand store. I agree with the question, that it's the neatest color of a Les Paul I've ever seen and it is a very utilitarian looking guitar and I love it, and I'll never sell it, and it sounds SWEET. Thank you.

SOY: What's the best book you've ever read?

ED: The best book I've ever read was - as far as entertainment - would have to be "All the Pretty Horses" by Cormac McCarthy. Definitely! It's a very entertaining book - you thought I was going to say Krishnamurti - but I DIDN'T.

SOY: Ever going to write a book and stop teasing us with your glimpses of passion and emotion and give us some verse/prose to sit down, devour and digest?

ED: If I ever get sick enough of music, I think I might try to do that. But I'm having such a good time writing lyrics that I really don't have the energy or the time to do it yet. I've always loved to write and I never considered myself anything but a lyricist so maybe I'll sit down someday and try it out!