It's all a progression towards hopefully one day making a record that can be the definitive you can offer. Some bands come in with that at first, and the great bands never really stray from that. I want to earn my stripes.
— Paolo Nutini
I try not to get too self-absorbed.
All of a sudden, my picture's in the paper, or I'm making a music video, and it's still the most surreal experience. I thought you could learn, and you would acclimatise, but I really haven't.
I'm always looking for people to play the songs to.
Sometimes the last thing you want to do is to go on stage and bare your soul in front of hundreds of complete strangers. Singing the same songs night after night can remind you of things you'd rather forget.
I come from Paisley, the same town as David Sneddon, who won 'Fame Academy.' When he was late for his homecoming reception in the town hall, they held an impromptu talent show. I ended up singing some songs, and that's how I was discovered.
The way you react to each challenge forms who you become.
I've always enjoyed the bohemia of Paisley.
I'm not one to go down that road to say I have some kind of social consciousness.
I'm at the point of view that I have to look after myself in various levels.
When you've displayed a weakness, you've displayed something a person can grab a hold of and attack you there. If you're not ashamed of it, who can make you feel bad about it? Nobody. If you make a mistake, at least you get to see them, identify them, acknowledge them and hopefully remedy them.
Whatever I do, I like to be the one doing it. I don't just like to get someone in to run it and put a name to it.
I remember I wanted to be Zorro, but I also wanted to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. I obviously had ideas above my station.
Some people have just got a capacity for creativity that's unbelievable!
People make you feel like a bad guy for asking for seven quid for your album, like you are slapping them in the face, when they'll go and pay two grand for a scarf somebody knitted in a sweat shop and stitched a designer label on.
Always wash your hands, and always tell the truth.
I love melon! I don't love melon; that's a bit... Melon's my favorite fruit.
You've got to make sure that you don't have an airbrushed picture making you look like a 15-year-old cherub when your lyrics suggest otherwise.
When you're waking up every day, and it's all about you, I don't consider that to be a way to live your life if you can help it. I think people who know me know that I find time to enjoy myself and not take life - or myself - too seriously at all.
It's not about someone making a difference on their own; it's about everybody pulling together to make a difference.
I'm not seeking for answers; I just want to tell stories and state my opinion.
You walk with a different air if you're wearing something sharp.
The more I watch politicians in action, it just makes me angry.
The success was a difficult thing for me to get my head round. When it gets too much, I just have to disappear - to sort my head.
The first time I did everything was in Paisley - the first time I went to the pictures or the bowling or the ice rink or the swimming baths.
My songwriting... it's almost like a kind of self-therapy.
None of us don't have a vice.
I went through a phase of buying a lot of masks, as anyone who has been to a party at the house will testify.
Music can really help people, help individuals in beautiful ways.
My parents worked very hard for me and my sister.
I don't know if I've got the capacity for all of the creativity that I want to put out there, which is annoying and frustrating - it's kinda like torture.
I've learned stuff, and I've forgotten stuff, but what I do know is that it really is all about the fans.
When life hands you melons, eat them.
Music is probably one of the most honest things out there - it's feral.
The songs are just an attempt to document what's been happening in my life. If people can relate to what's going on with me, then that's great.
When things get too grand or too big, I struggle to keep up with it all.
Really, if you've got people who want you to play, you play.
To sing with Led Zeppelin has allowed me to offer the best places I could afford to my family and friends!
Music is a good way to channel your fragile, vulnerable, needy side, but it's also something to rejoice in.
Politicians have an arrogance that I just do not understand. I've seen more constructive debates in high school.
Paisley offered me and my family a life, way back, and it has continued to do so.
When I think of Paisley, I think of everything that has shaped my life.
I started to learn some common sense. Even just sort of day-to-day things. I started to cook a little bit more and try to learn to fix things around the house. If something breaks down, rather than call a guy, there's got to be more I can do.
I like to indulge all the facets of my personality. There's none that I don't think, in a way, I would want to take away from.
I never, ever thought I would get to say I was opening a show for the Bay City Rollers.
When I got my first publishing deal, I felt some responsibility to try to write with the people that they were asking me to write with.
A lot of people have been very dismissive of me. I'm hardly the darling of the NME. It used to get me down a bit, but you reach a point where you can laugh it off.
You should have something to say, an idea you want to get out, and if you don't, just get out of the way, 'cause there's so many great musicians and writers that are in the queue.
One of the best things I get to do is meet people that have been to the shows and listened to the music. I still don't indulge in the social media side of things, so that's my way of starting conversations - actually hearing people talk.
I don't discriminate when it comes to melon. I'm very open-minded. I really don't mind; I can't say I like any one better than the other. You can put them all in! A little melon mix salad, and I'm just in heaven.
