Ben Gibbard Quotes

Hype covers every surface of mass culture, and sports fans are intimately familiar with it - the heavy-breathing buildup that leads, inevitably, to a first-round knockout or a 30-point blowout or a fourth-inning rainout.

I'd done an EP, and nothing came from that, and I didn't know where to go from there.

I hate hype.

I assumed no one would ever listen to my music, and for quite a lot of years, I was right.

'One Part Lullaby.' It was our big major-label record. People reference it quite a bit, but it did absolutely nothing. It's like the 'Kids' soundtrack. It did nothing. It didn't start anything for me.

Most times, I had to wait long for the roles that I really wanted to play.

With my second album, eOne Music really wanted me to rock it up a little bit.

Babyshambles were offered some money to have a comeback. Good band, they were - amazing tunes.

I don't know if Kim Gordon does collaborations but I'd love to work with her on something one day.

I had this dream that you get this record deal, and you're a star, and everybody loves you - but I was a youngster, and it didn't work out that way.

I had basically been shelved by the record label for two years and I was writing songs every day. I made two albums that just never came out, and that was just a really big knock to my confidence, because everything I sent seemed like it just wasn't good enough.

My first short story sale was to a magazine that sat on the story forever... and never did publish it.

I've been listening to this group called the Veils, which I kind of discovered late. I've been really obsessed with this album that they have called 'Nux Vomica,' and I just think it's a brilliantly produced and written rock record.

Bands like Arcade Fire finding a larger audience has opened a lot of doors. They've empowered a whole community in Montreal.

Well, rock used to be the only game in town in terms of radio and what the kids listen to. Now I think there was a big hip-hop takeover, and pop music, it became mechanical and computer-y.

One doesn't have to sit through exams and go to universities to play rock n' roll.

Rafa Benitez promised me a certain development, but very quickly he took away that promise and it was a totally different situation.

Nothing is worse than having your dreams come true.

I was afraid of the sophomore slump even before our first record came out. It was a very real fear because I'd watched so many bands I'd loved in the past not deliver. I knew it was a very real thing. I didn't know why it happens, but I'd been thinking about it a lot.

I worked with Chris Squire on a Greg Lake record in the early '80s, worked with Alan White.

I wanted to play in bands and get signed by a record label and tour the world and stuff, but that never really worked out.

As a songwriter and a singer in a successful rock band, I have had the good fortune of being surrounded by incredible musicians, lots of wonderful production on both record and onstage, and plenty of volume!

Kasabian are wicked. They've got the hit songs, but it's the presence in the performance and the attitude with it that I love.

I am completely done with music.

I grew up in Southern California. I played in rock bands out here, and I've been around pop music my whole life. I've been around all music my entire life.