I came up in Oakley, California—before it got smoothed out. It was all cracked sidewalks, chain-link fences, and the kind of silence that begged to be broken. We weren’t trying to make careers out of music. We were just trying to feel something loud enough to drown out everything else. My first stage was a garage with a busted overhead bulb and a stolen extension cord. That’s where I learned the truth doesn’t need a spotlight.