John Darnielle Quotes

My problem is: as a singer and a dancer, if I get it in my body one way, it is harder for me to be open to something new - to something else; to something that is really organically connected to the piece and not just to my perception of it.

Part of the reason I make things realistic is, I don’t really want to have to explain my work. What I wish to communicate is done so people can make their own interpretation, and if it’s different to my idea it doesn't matter.

Those of us who make films try to make something that we're feeling and that we would like. Then we just hope an audience responds the same way. It's very important to have the electrical circuit made, but I don't have control over how people feel when they flip the switch. So the whole idea of marketing research and test screenings is just foreign to me.

My album to me is something, but anyone who buys it, it's whatever it is to them. I don't like telling people what specifics are of the record, because that could ruin it as an experience for someone else.

I have intentions as a writer, but people - when they're listening to a track - will take from it what they interpret.

When an artist explains what he is doing, he usually has to do one of two things: either scrap what he has explained, or make his work fit in with the explanation.

One of the things you do when you make a piece of art is you try to make the world you'd rather be in.

And I like to interpret music. So I think it's all interpretive.

I just go with the flow, so any style can be in my music - that makes it exciting.

If you approach an opera as though it were something that always went a certain way, that's what you get. I approach an opera as though I didn't know it.

It's entertaining to watch somebody break my music down or explain what he thinks I was thinking during the process of making these records. Because... he has no idea.

I get very frustrated by this term 'genre exercise.' I mean, what exactly is that? Genre is not really relevant when you are writing a song; hopefully you are doing it to explore something, to create something, and I don't agree that any of my albums are genre exercises.

There are some songs that don't belong to The Animals that I refuse to give in to and not do. I enjoy singing other people's songs, you know. That's why they're written in the first place.

As a songwriter, I'm not necessarily writing about myself or my life.

I work in whatever medium likes me at the moment.

You make a movie, and if somebody reads something into it, then great, more power to him.

I've always felt that music is an art form that deserves to live the life of the artist.

Music expresses what cannot be put into words I like to think, and I think the band makes a good go at it.

When you're making music, it's meant to be shared with people. Sometimes, even if I'm writing a song, someone else brings a vibe. There's something different about it. If someone can play a better bassline than me, I'll let them do it. I'm just here to fit in and see where it goes.

Sometimes I think that there's a fine line between impressionistic and messy.

I learnt early on that your audience take the songs in the way they want to rather than the way you might want them too.

I want people to come to my music without prejudice. I want them to get the music first. And who I am isn't that important. If they like the songs to me that's a good thing.

You can say battle or war or whatever, but in the end, it's music. It's not really violent in intent at all, it's really just about expression and celebrating that in itself.

The good thing about songwriting is you don't have to delineate between what's true and what's fiction; records aren't put on the shelf that way. Books are, movies are, but records aren't.

I don't like to box myself into anything, because I also sing and I love to dance; I do everything.