I remember learning how to play 'The Fool On The Hill' on piano when I was in maybe fifth grade.
— Britt Daniel
I'm usually pretty insecure.
I'm into it, I'm into MP3's; I think there's no way you're ever going to be able to legislate people having to buy a record in order to listen to it. You have to look at it as a means of promotion, and if the music is good enough, promotion is a good thing.
Usually, whenever my mom would come over I would try and put on music that I thought she would like just to make her feel more at ease.
I love playing bass. It's mostly what I play in Divine Fits.
I wish records got made faster and looser with less thought in them, but since touring is so much more profitable than records, you spend so much time on the road that it's hard to work on them. And the records get further and further apart.
I'd always listened to my parents' Bee Gees albums.
When we're recording, I always dress up.
I was 16 when I started playing. I borrowed a friend's acoustic guitar, and I had a Beatles chord book. I just taught myself that way.
I do go through periods of obsession with certain records.
The Futurists were an art movement in the early 20th century which basically glorified machines and the Industrial Revolution.
There was a very obnoxious phase for Axl Rose. I'm sure if I had experienced as much success as he had, I would probably be a third as obnoxious. I'd probably be obnoxious, too. But not that much.
The people that only listen to one song from a record and flip around that much, if that's the only way they listen to music, they're probably the kind of people that like music as something to drive to, you know?
I don't like when a song goes from one mood to another unless it's going to be out of sight.
I like sparseness. There's something about that minimalist feel that can make something have an immediate impact and make it unique. I'll probably always work with that formula; I just don't know how.
I love bands that can collaborate, and I feel like the Rolling Stones wouldn't be nearly as great as they are if it wasn't for them having a real group.
You know when a song has a melody or some kind of element that affects you, and that is what I am trying to go for.
If I write the song, I get to name it.
I always thought of indie-rock as being rock music by bands that were on independent labels, and that's a great thing.
There are so many songs out there in the world that - if I know we have to come up with a new cover, then I'll just sit in my room and sing song after song and figure out which one I can kind of sing the best.
Usually I write the songs at home and then I bring them in to the band; when we play them as a band, that's kinda how we figure out the feel of how they're going to be presented on the record or live.
It doesn't matter what age you are, an effective song will move you.
I just don't think you can make records easily and have them be great. It's a process. You've got to get really lucky all the time, or you've got to work like mad.
I get to focus on being a musician sometimes, and I get to focus on being a vocalist sometimes.
