I kind of dig the disconnectedness of it, you know? I like the idea of, maybe you have your phone and your wallet and you’re out there.

Are you someone who has deliberately kept your home roots minimal, so that you can continue touring and not worry too much about what’s going on back home?

That’s part of it. I think I’ve kept myself kind of light on my feet because I want to be able to do this, because I do really enjoy it. The other thing is, I got a divorce seven, eight years ago. And my parents were always married, so when I got a divorce I was kind of like, Fuck being the traditional guy. Fuck that. I’m going to be slightly off dude.

When your marriage broke up, was there any sense of failure on your end, because your folks had stayed together?

Anyone going through a divorce has a sense of failure. I’ve heard it both ways. I have a friend who got divorced whose parents were divorced who said, like, “When your parents are divorced and you get divorced, you’re like, ‘Aw, I didn’t want to be that.’” But then again, I don’t know. I only know the way I was, which was, “This is pretty much failure. This is the definition of failure.” I was kind of young. I was like 28.

Were your parents disappointed at all?

No, they’re super supportive. My parents are always really, really cool about everything. They’re into the rock thing. They supported me through the divorce.

When the breakup happened, did you blame your career at all? Did you feel like, well, this is getting in the way of me being able to make this work?

Maybe a better man would have! [laughs] I kind of was like, Look. I’ve got this opportunity, and I think I should be able to take it. I needed to do it to be happy, and if I was not gonna be happy, I wasn’t gonna be able to have a good time in any relationship.

I assume you have the rhythms of album releases down pat by now. Every time the new album comes out, are you businesslike? Or do you still have that sort of junior rock star thing where you’re like, well, it might sell ten million copies on vinyl!

Yeah. I know exactly what it’s gonna be like. It’s almost like going into training for it, you know? It’s like a boxing match.

I assume there’s actual physical soreness the next morning too, when you’re like, “Oh, Jesus, my shoulder!”

I’ve found that the touring, especially in the bus, is all right. Especially if you keep alcohol consumption reasonable. I think that the thing that exhausts me is the one-offs, like when you fly out on Thursday, play a show Friday, and fly back Saturday. That kind of travel, the whole experience becomes way more about the travel than it does about the show. So that’s the part that ends up really exhausting me. I think the touring is like routine, this ritual, that it ends up being kind of comforting.

Do you ever have expectations for yourself because you’re now officially a rock star? Do you ever feel any sort of little voice in your head that demands you act like a rock star?

We were just at South By Southwest, and it’s like, “Hey, do you guys want to take a ride back to the hotel?” And it’s like, you know what? I don’t think I should go back to the hotel quite yet. It’s sort of tempting to go read, but it’s only 8pm. So I should stay out at least, and go see a band or something. I think there’s some commitment to that.