I've seen him in person three times (but from far away in the audience, don't be jealous) and I always get the shy vibe from him.
He certainly interacts with a ton of people everyday, but maybe not in a laid-back, small talk kind of way like the rest of us mortals.
He's quite articulate if you ask him one of those questions he's prepared to answer (eg. When is the new album coming out? Duh, soon!) but seems to get very worked up if people ask him something unexpected. Probably a combination of not being an expert at small talk and being kind of afraid he might not understand the asker's English or not being able to formulate his answer in understandable English.
He has a really sweet sense of humor, though, if you get past the thick accent.