I was halfway through writing a gothic, country house mystery when, out of the blue, I received an email inviting me to audition for the ITV show, 'Popstar To Operastar.'
— Roland Orzabal
I kept a lid on my feelings at school but, when I was 18, dropped out of everything and couldn't even be bothered to get out of bed.
When you write really good lyrics - and sometimes I did! - they are just a joy to sing.
It's not good for you to be barred from traveling to certain places in your head because some skeleton is in the closet.
All the serious bands, all the punks, came from Bristol.
I’m proud of the younger Roland. Very proud of some of the lyrics. They stand up today. I’m cool with it, though some of it is a bit painful.
Tears for Fears was always very personal, but at the same time, it was always big business, a lot of pressure.
Good, effective pop music isn't just verbal language. It takes a good physical beat to make you feel something.
I didn’t marry someone timid and conservative.
Mad World' hasn't dated because it's expressive of a period I call the teenage menopause, where your hormones are going crazy as you're leaving childhood. Your fingers are on the cliff and you're about to drop off, but somehow you cling on.
My voice has changed dramatically over the years.
Grief is a very strange thing. It can affect you in all kinds of ways. I lost a year. I’ve done a lot of therapy and it’s great to be back on the horse.
I think that definitely any trauma - whether it's childhood or later in life - affects you negatively, especially when it's suppressed, but there's so much of us which is already in place.
I had suffered from depression in my childhood.
It was brilliant in LA. The kids were young enough for it not to disturb their education and it was an incredibly healthy lifestyle. The weather's so good that you're up every morning, walking in the canyons, playing tennis three times a week.
Obviously, the big hits like 'Shout,' 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World,' 'Head Over Heels,' we play live, so there’s nothing new about them to me.
Bath was hardly known for its rock’n roll. We weren’t part of the London scene or the New Romantics or any of that.
I’m a Leo, with an Aquarian mid-heaven, so I can be mistaken for an Aquarius. My Sun-Uranus conjunction in Leo makes me an honorary Aquarian anyway.
I do an awful lot of thinking but, I also do an awful lot of dancing.
Better to say something simply instead of giving people a bunch of vague metaphors to mull over.
Two decades later, Gary Jules sang 'Mad World' for the film 'Donnie Darko' and got the Christmas No 1 in 2003. That was probably the proudest moment of my career.
I think it’s a shame that 'Woman in Chains' wasn’t a hit at the time, although it’s become one of people’s favorite songs.
I tend to get quite close to the songs because I’ve always been the main songwriter.
I was, like, the guy who sat at the front of the class and did his homework and did everyone else's homework and got A grades.
I always thought I had a difficult childhood 'til I saw the film 'Angela's Ashes'.
A song about post-teenage angst like 'Mad World' seems to be permanently relevant.
I can do some vocals in England; I can come across to LA You can do various versions - replace this, replace that. You can use software that almost makes the record for you.
When I became a parent I forgot about the part of myself which was very emotional, very dour a little depressed - but very good at writing emotional songs.
Raoul' sold a respectable 700,000 copies without a hit single. It didn't take off. If you don't sell 8 million albums or 4 million albums again, everybody deems it a big failure.
I'm interested in what makes people tick, how they think, what makes them behave the way they do.
I did psychotherapy for about six years. I stopped going regularly when I'd finished 'Elemental,' which I think probably says something. I think I'm moving on.
My dad had been in the second world war, had electric shock treatment, suffered from anxiety and was abusive to my mum. I kept a lid on my feelings at school but, when I was 18, dropped out of everything and couldn't even be bothered to get out of bed.
I do a lot of vocal warmups, which are the same warmups I did when I was a kid, because I had a few classical singing lessons and stuff like that, so I know pretty much how I’m gonna be once I get on stage.
A lot of young people have been raised on our music, or rather had it forced upon them by their parents.
