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Moving and motion tends to make things pop up. But things pop up for me, really, at just odd intervals or at random times that aren't really convenient, so I'm a big fan of the voice memo recorder on my phone. That's the only way I can remember things.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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I feel like the 'Supernova' record, those songs are very me. It's a more honest representation of me than any record I have made prior to that.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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I just love being in the studio, and that's kind of what I do when I'm not on the road. I'm just in the studio messing with stuff, and I love playing all the instruments.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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The first two My Morning Jacket records were basically demos.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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I feel like everybody's got their health issues and their battles, and yeah, mine go up and down. It's never really over.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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I tried to score a few films with this composer Brian Reitzell here in L.A. We made a bunch of music we really loved, but we got fired from the film for being too weird.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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I got really hooked on this riff in the middle of this song called 'Minor Miracles' by my friend Eric Johnson from Fruit Bats. I got the tracks for that from him, and that turned into 'Here in Spirit.'
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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I exercise all the time, every morning, and then I do music in the afternoon. I walk two to three miles a day and do Pilates twice a week.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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There were lots of songs that were on 'It Still Moves' that I had written, and we had played - rehearsed, but also played live a couple of times - that could've gone on 'At Dawn', but we always knew we wanted to make a record that was more quote-unquote 'rock n' roll.'
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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Whenever we come back from another project, we're always so stoked to see each other and play with each other again. I really feel like that's been the key to why we're still together as a band. I remember a period five or six years ago feeling a little burnt out and wasn't sure whether I wanted to keep doing it.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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Big religion was started with one goal in mind: to make money. And I'm not knocking anyone's faith, because I think there are a lot of good values to be found in any faith. But when any faith starts to get in the way of love, that's where you can tell that greed and fear have stepped in and that those things come from man.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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The songs always tell you something, but always for different reasons.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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I was talking to my publisher, Jamie Ceretta, who's one of my closest confidants and allies when I'm working on new music. I feel like I can always count on his judgement because he'll tell me if he doesn't like something. It's sometimes hard to get people to tell you if they don't like something.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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Live music is proof that there's some things the Internet can't kill. In our lifetime, we're going to see more and more things start to disappear and get gobbled up by the Internet, but live music won't be one of them.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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We don't have universal health care. Education is so expensive. We have these massive problems, you know? So it makes me really happy to think that somebody could have all the music in the world for free. But at the same time, if you have enough money to pay for it, you should pay for it.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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Live music is incredible because you get to be with people, and you get to have this tactile, real-world experience, but at the end of the day, if your eyes are closed and you're getting swept away, it's like... I don't know.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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I went to college for, like, a year and a half with the intention of doing some kind of art therapy or some kind of teaching of art, because I feel like art is a more free area in school than music is. I feel like music is too mathematic for me. Music school's so hard. It's math.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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We wanted 'At Dawn' to be what it was: kinda spaced-out.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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I really believe what people have said before, that God is love. For me, it's music. For you, it might be writing, or for somebody else, it might be soccer or whatever.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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I think anyone who knows the audio process knows what mixing and mastering is.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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That's why you put out records: hoping that people will connect with them. I mean, I play music for myself, for sure, and I would still play music even if people didn't like it. But it means a lot when it connects to people and they enjoy it. But it's funny: you get criticism as much as you get praise. It kind of evens out after awhile.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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For a lot of people, life's been pretty good. There hasn't been true terror right in your face.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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Anyone who knows music knows that Neil is about as real as it can get, and this along with seeing him perform 'Harvest Moon' on 'SNL' was my first experience knowing what real music really felt like.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
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After I wake up, I always meditate.
James Edward Olliges Jr.
