Damien Chazelle Quotes

I got my first set of drums when I was around 3. I went from band to marching band to Latin jazz band - it's like riding a bike.

I've always been insecure about my singing. That's why I've focused so much on my songwriting.

In the Shao Lin temple, they never allow you to touch the skin of a drum until you can tongue what you're going to play.

I work best when a little scared, when there's so much more than the lines to think about.

I want to keep doing as much work as I can, and I want to keep the level high. I'm wondering if something is going to happen to me to screw it up.

I taught myself how to play the guitar, I taught myself how to play the drums, and I kind of fake doing both of them. But drumming comes more natural to me, and it just feels better.

A lot of drummers get sidetracked by the instrument. It can engulf you.

My motivation for being a good drummer was born out of fear, which, in a way, seems so antithetical to what art should be.

The experience awakened 'my tremendous musical ambition, which has never subsided to this day.

[Candidates are] more motivated by the fear of losing than the joy of winning.

Taking a solo on a tune is always a little bit scary.

I worried so long that I would sing to empty bars my whole life. I was singing my guts out; there would be five people into it.

I'm scared each time I start a movie, believe me. There's always a moment of panic when you're not sure if you're going to be able to meet the deadline.

I wanted to be the best guitar player in the world. And then my dad got me a portable recorder, so I started writing my own music.

I don't even like doing drum solos live; to me, it's like, 'Ehhh.' It doesn't really interest me.

I don't think I'm getting better, quote unquote, as a singer or guitar player. But I'm more comfortable in this particular space. I get better at being a bad singer, so to speak.

I feel like I've mastered what nervousness is, and simply, nervousness is, fearing the future. Or, I like to put it as, thinking about things that you don't want in the future. Normally, artists may think, 'What if my show doesn't go well?' Boom. That's going to cause nervousness.

I love Mozart, but I often make a terrible hash of it.

The more confidence I get with making music, the more I feel like I can just rely on myself to fulfill me.

I feel like I do my best work under fear of being fired.

I suppose that fear of failure is what drives me on.

I was paralyzed with nerves on 'Taste of Honey' and never quite knew what was going on.

I was pretty scared of the idea as a younger person of being a musician on the road. It didn't occur to me as a possibility.

Everybody has had that experience of really wanting to do something and being afraid.

In a certain sense, every time you sit down to write a song, there's a fear that you've forgotten how to do it.