John Darnielle Quotes

When we make records, it's hard to pinpoint one thing that inspires a record. It's usually a number of different things that lead to inspiration or wanting to write something down and share it with someone.

The day I run out of ideas is the day I stop making records.

The toughest question has always been, "How do you get your ideas?" How do you answer that? It's like asking runners how they run, or singers how they sing. They just do it!

I am always looking for ideas, whether it is in art on the street or in my world travels. It comes to me randomly and unexpectedly.

He lives with his creativity in high gear.

I like messing around, and I like working with artists who I respect.

I spend a lot of time working as a painter and in my studio I go from upstairs where I paint to downstairs where I play and record, so I get this thing crossing over.

Inspiration arrives as a packet of material to be delivered.

My art is not limited to the songs I create but also to the reaction it creates. I like to sit back and look at the whole thing as if it's a tornado that I'm controlling. It's creating chaos. When you create chaos, ideas are turned upside down, and everybody looks at things in a different way.

A lot of times I go back to record and to make a tour, but I'm very happy to do it, because it gives me an opportunity to dig and hear what's going on.

Usually one or two things happen: Either you have an idea straightaway - the sort of sound that you want or the instrumentation or one particular sound that you want to feature - or you don't.

I'm never happier than when I'm being creative, whether that's with Coldplay or other artists. I just love being in the studio.

Little moments of excitement shape the sound of a record. You don't have anything, and then you start to have little parts that give you the energy to move forward because you start to see something.

The product of the scientific imagination is a new vision of relations - like that of artistic imagination.

I'm a creator at heart.

I think it's all about making records when you're inspired to make them.

Maybe some people, when they sit down to write their great novel or make their great record or paint their great painting, they have it all planned out in their head. But for me, it's never worked that way.

Young people can create beautiful things.

It's so difficult to actually come up with ideas that you really fall in love with, you know? That's the most difficult thing about filmmaking - and that's my main challenge in life.

There are so many ideas that I have in my mind, of projects that I would love to tackle, people I would love to work with, genres I would love to experiment with, and sounds that don't fit any of my previous projects that I need to find a home for.

I just keep recording. You never know what you'll come up with.

When you're doing an album, you need to come up with something new, be creative.

We go into the studio with the mindset of simply wanting to make something great.

I have so many designs and video ideas and lyrics in my head, so I always try to be productive.

When you open your mind up, and you go into a creative state, you can't just switch if off. When you have an idea, a creative impulse, and then you ignore it, it can keep you up when you just want to go to your bed - which is why it's great to have voice recorders on your phone!