I take the responsibility of being me very seriously, and I feel like I have to spend my life the way I know is the wisest way to spend it & I don't really feel any kind of a void in myself where I feel like I need to use something like religion or spiritual matters to sort of fill up or to get me on a good path. I love all those things because it's great when people do feel those things inside them & they can go do those things. But for me if I'm gonna read about something I'd rather read a pamphlet or the instructions to a synthesizer than a book on Buddhism.

EC: OK. What's the single most, or what are a couple of important relationships that've been in your life & where you are currently?
JF: For me my friendship with Omar Rodriguez from Mars Volta that friendship really means a lot to me because he's another creative person who works as hard as I do. He really pushes himself & the people around him to be the best they can be. Anybody who's a guitar player that's spent that time with another guitar player, there's nothing better than that. It means so much to me to have a friend like that. I feel the same way about Josh Klinghoffer, the guy who plays on my record. He just inspires me a great deal & his ideas are things I wouldn't have thought of & also the times that we've spent together. I could talk about people from the past but for me it's more important to really appreciate the people who are around now, because of having friends die… To really appreciate the friends you have when they're around because this is your time to be with them.

EC: Yeah, I've heard it said that we only get to be here for a short period of time, and I've seen that played out in my life, and with friends as well.
JF: You just never know when somebody's gonna die. It could happen at any moment so you've got to really treat everybody that way. Just really let everybody know how you feel about them.

EC: Yeah, it's funny. The first time I heard the expression that we're spiritual beings having a human experience I sort of braced at it, but over time I've warmed to that idea. Not in the Sting(K) sense, that we're ‘spirits in the material world.' Thank you for your time. This has been a pleasure.
JF: Cool, thanks man. It was nice talking to you.

EC: Be well.