James Mercer Quotes

Painting is much more than therapy to me its a way of life.

I'm compelled to paint nearly every day. I just felt like making a painting, went out and bought paints and a canvas. Now it fulfills me creatively when I'm not doing music: it's something you can do by yourself and it's totally yours. It's a great adjunct to my life.

Strangely, I feel that I become increasingly reclusive in my normal life and more open and candid in my music.

No matter how long what I'm doing here lasts, I want to be a songwriter for the rest of my life. I love it and it's my escape.

Acting is such a huge part of my life. It really allows me to have a creative outlet and to actually be able to have an outlet to discuss openly the things that truly I think are relevant in the world, that make a difference.

If not for music, I would probably be a very frustrated scientist. It's one way to answer the question, 'What is the meaning of life?' I feel music answers it better.

My outlet is my music, and it's been this way since I was 4 years old.

For me, I am still very happy to be able to do stage design as it's an opportunity to express the extreme.

Music is about expressing things you can't in everyday life.

I was writing poetry, and the Mountain Goats was an outgrowth of that.

Music is still above all else the thing that does it for me.

Basically, I started singing when I started talking. Music has just been my saving grace my whole life.

If I was just in one band, I would have a problem with the amount of time between records because I don't want to wave one flag. I just want to be part of something cool.

In a lot of the art world, you have to present yourself as you know what you're doing at a young age. Music gave me another outlet. The 'no wave' bands were such an inspiration; it felt so free - once you start doing it, it's hard to stop. But I can't get away from art. It comes back around. I wouldn't be true to myself if I didn't pursue it.

The only thing in life that really gives me any peace is just being lost in the process of creating something, whether it's the film or painting and drawing, which has been a big part of my life, for a long time.

Singing allowed me to express myself in ways that I wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

Music is my life. It is sacred.

When I sit down and play guitar, I melt into the instrument. I can play for hours by myself. Playing guitar has given me such a wonderful life, and I'm grateful for it.

I just want to keep writing music.

I don't just act to pay my rent. I really like doing it, so I get frustrated when I don't get to do it all the time, so short films are a really great way to be doing it and working with your friends, working on smaller, more specific things without limiting yourself in other ways.

When I write, I don't have any expectation of what kind of song it will become or who it might reach.

The blues are what I've turned to, what has given me inspiration and relief in all the trials of my life.

Once I discovered how important writing music was to me and just what a huge weight it lifted off of me, I knew that it was going to be the biggest part of my life, the biggest love of my life, the biggest thing in my life.

I became a musician because I love music, and that is what has sustained me; it's not because I thought it was a great way to make a living. Music saved my life.

If you took music out of my life, I don't know what I'd do. It's the one thing that I have a real passion for.