Bernard Sumner Quotes

People forget that keeping a band together is hard; man, it's really hard. All the cliches apply about living in each other's pockets; of it being a relationship, a marriage, a family.

It's a really bad idea to be in a band and get involved with each other.

Being in a band, you become each other's best friends as well as each other's worst enemies.

Being in a band is hard. Even if you like somebody, you start to argue over silly things.

Being in a band is a really magical thing because you've got a family and you operate as this one entity. It's very democratic; everyone is involved in the output. But within that, there can be a lot of disagreements and strife.

It was fine at the start but there's always politics in any band. It just happened that I always got more vocals than everybody else, so in terms of people wanting their voice heard, that wasn't happening. It made people, very bitter.

Being in a band can be really toxic to being in a relationship, considering all the touring and everything. Sometimes when you're on tour, it feels like you're living the same day over and over again.

A lot of bands don't really like each other. I read an Interpol interview the other day, it was a really good interview because it was showing a different aspect of a band. They don't really like each other - they work together and they kinda exist together and that's how they like it. They're like, "we didn't get into this band looking for friends."

The reality is, like any band, you can never quite quantify who does what.

I don't think anyone ever plans to change line-ups, but it's something that comes with being in bands. I was in a band once and there were always problems - members come and go - and some of the world's biggest bands have changed line-ups loads!

I know of musicians who have played together for decades who hate each other. The Modern Jazz Quartet for one.

Like any family, like any group - the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, EPMD, Public Enemy - they've had bumps in the road. I just think that because A Tribe Called Quest is so precious to fans, they were concerned about unveiling some of those things.

A touring band is a family and a workplace at the same time, and you're living with people you didn't necessarily choose every day for up to a year.

The Beatles were a group made up of four very complex men, and my small hand could not have broken these men up.

The Animals were their own worst enemy. The Animals were a band that couldn't live up to their name. I was the singer in the band and as long as I was enjoying myself I would keep on working with the band. But it got to be rather nasty once the big money showed up - things started to turn toxic.

You know why Foo Fighters have been a band for 20 years? Because I've never really told anybody what I think of them. The last thing you ever want to do is go to therapy with your band.

By the time The Band did The Last Waltz, the chemistry had changed, and it wasn't a thrill anymore to live that studio kind of life.

You make one solo album, and some people swear you're about to leave the band or there are creative differences.

The real shame about the ending of the Guns N' Roses when I got kicked out wasn't just that I got kicked out, but Slash and Axl stopped working together.

It was great being together as a band, but much more difficult being brothers than it was being in a band.

I'm a full member of Cheap Trick in all respects. Solely as an accommodation to some of the band members, I reluctantly agreed to take a temporary hiatus from touring.

I think it was probably down to the fact that we weren't together personally as a band. We weren't pulling in the same direction. I always feel if you're having a good time in the studio it actually comes across on the tape and that was a bit of a miserable album for us.

You're in a band with someone, it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to agree with everything they think or do.

If you spend long enough with a bunch of guys, things will inevitably start to rankle. You're going to hate the way the singer comes into the room and opens the curtains 'cos he's done it too fast or whatever.

Bun E.'s a member of the band, but he's not touring, and he's not recording... We've had our differences, but we're all settled up now, and hopefully we can forget about that era. These decisions that Cheap Trick makes, Bun E. is part of.