John Darnielle Quotes

One thing that I have thought ever since Temple of the Dog is that I would never say no to an interesting collaboration, and that's partly where Audioslave came from.

Everyone wants to get into soundtracks. Everyone wants to do songs here and there. But, I think they want it for different reasons. I think I'm just tumbling through my life, enjoying playing with everybody.

When I'm sick of myself, and when I don't know what to say as a solo artist, I can write a song for a movie. When I don't know where to turn musically, being in a band - Rilo Kiley or Jenny & Johnny - the collaborative nature is really exciting.

My dream artists to collaborate with are probably Cee Lo Green and Imogen Heap. They're completely out of my genre but they're both musical geniuses.

I definitely want to work with Thom Yorke. I want to work with Damien Marley; there's a few international artists I wouldn't mind working with - like Massacre Children would be ill, and I still have an affinity for the U.K. hip hop scene.

We do things on an exchange basis in the music business - it keeps the wheels turning. That's how I can get people like Slash, Flea and Kris Kristofferson on my album. Collaboration should be done through trades rather than charging each other a fortune.

I've learned a lot from Dave Stewart; he's a serial collaborator. He's co-written songs with more people than anybody I know - like the most incredible people too.

I don't think that a lot of my favorite producers or bands would produce our albums or even play on them, unfortunately.

Armaan has a simple approach and understands what a composer wants. I tell him, 'Give the song your own vibe but I will still come and fight with you and change it.'

I'd like to actually work with a lot of other people, and whether it's someone who is completely unknown who I love and think is a talent, maybe I'll work with them, or, like, maybe I'll work with some of the biggest pop stars and write music for them.

Performing with Thomas Rhett our song 'Craving You,' I'm so excited for the fans to see it and sort of see our worlds come together because I feel like he's sort of a genre pusher and boundary pusher, and I feel the same way about my music.

I love finding talents to pair my music with such as Conrad on 'Firestone', Parson James with 'Stole the Show,' and Will Heard on 'Nothing Left.'

This project, 'Electronica,' is about working with people who are a strong source of inspiration to me.

I wanted to make a reggaeton record. So I sent the record to Ozuna, and he killed it. Then I felt like I wanted to add a more female vibe but still keep some Spanish touch, so I asked Selena and Cardi, and it all came together.

I worked with different producers from all genres, trying to bridge different styles of music, from urban to electronica to ballads.

For 'Chapters', I decided to let go of my insecurities, found myself some talented R&B producers, and worked with them.

I definitely made friends with the people I like to write with, but I'll also write with people I haven't met before or producers I haven't met before because how are you supposed to make those friends without trying?

I like to consider myself an all-rounder, and I'm not trying to be King of the Scene or anything. I'd like to do everything, from writing film scores to producing pop albums.

I'm very thankful that I'm in a position where I'll never be without a session. I'll always have someone who will want to get in the studio with me, or there'll always be someone that I'll wanna get in the studio with.

We'd love to collaborate with Sam Smith. I've told him. Many times. We've got loads of songs we've written that we can literally just hear his voice on.

I grew up in Mountain Pine, Arkansas. You get no more country than where I grew up. But I also grew up in the Napster / iTunes / Spotify/ iHeart Radio era, and so I see that everything is influenced by everything else, and that's what country music is now.

As far as working with Kanye and Solange, that was amazing. After 'Swing Lo Magellan', I needed a change. Getting to work in that capacity, writing for other people and working for other people as a writer and as a person who's not representing it as the front person or whatever - it's such a different perspective you can get.

My brothers came home with country, jazz, everything... it was always very normal to me to make any type of music. It was possible to fuse all the sounds, so it never sounded confusing to me to mix jazz and dubstep.

When you get new people around you, the excitement is new because they have different take on your music. They play it in a different way, and that's always exciting to be around. It elevates everybody onstage.

Bjork for sure. Definitely, I would like to do like something with Tommy Genesis, too. There's a lot of people actually.