Todd was introduced to me as a kid when I was still in grade school, which was when I was back in Wisconsin. I thought I’d better explore this because I knew that people who had good taste in music were supposed to know who Todd Rundgren is. I think he was the first artist I gravitated to who was not introduced to me by my parents or my family, so he represents a measure of autonomy in my musical tastes. I also think that I came to think of myself not just as a singer but also a songwriter due to the influence that Todd Rundgren had on me. And although his sound has an east-coast sensibility about it, his music did make the journey with me from Wisconsin to Southern California. Of course, Todd produced [Bad Religion’s 2000 album] New America, and I recently read on his Wikipedia page that the band Bad Religion worked with him and the band didn’t like him, which is inaccurate. It is true that the guys in my band didn’t like him, but I was highly influenced by him and I still keep in touch with him and consider him to be a friend. But the thing that really bothered me was the second line, which said something like ‘Greg the singer got along better with him but was still highly disappointed.’ Nothing could be further from the truth. I had a wonderful experience with Todd. It’s the people who can’t bear to have their egos hurt that have a bad experience with him. He’s super-talented and super-opinionated.
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