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There's such an extreme feeling to be in love, especially in quite an emotionally destructive relationship, where you're both kind of really bad for each other, but you love each other so much. Those extreme emotions, I think, can only be described with extreme imagery.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
Maybe in music you're making an auditory environment and maybe you change your environment around you to suit your own way.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine
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I've got some incredible fans actually - so loyal and they make me birthday cards and Christmas cards. I got this package of poems and artwork based around the songs. They've got this thing called 'Floetry' where they all have to put in artwork. They've set up their own competitions and stuff which is kind of amazing.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
Music can tear me up inside.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
I was a heavy heart to carry My beloved was weighed down My arms around his neck My fingers laced to crown. I was a heavy heart to carry My feet dragged across ground And he took me to the river Where he slowly let me drown My love has concrete feet My love's an iron ball Wrapped around your ankles Over the waterfall
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
I've learned not to hide behind a veil of irony - to talk about my work in a more honest way.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
Going to parties usually makes me feel depressed, just because I have such social fear after meeting people.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
My room is like an antique shop, full of junk, and weird stuff. There's a big sword in there. And a taxidermy bird, and a couple of birdcages. And a lot of newspaper cuttings. I used to have a weird thing about cutting out morbid headlines from newspapers, and collecting them. I was fascinated with drowning, which is kind of strange.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine
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I've been having this really weird anxiety dream about arriving too late or too early, and the people in charge are like, 'You have to leave! You have to go back to the hotel and get ready!' And I use the wrong exit, and I'm running down the red carpet in pyjamas, like, 'No! Don't look at me!'
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
I get in fights with my sister all the time. She comes on the road with me and we fight - like sisters do.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
The release of 'Lungs' was so hard. It was terrifying, because it was the first time doing everything. The first experiences of media exposure were almost paralysing. I spent a lot of time crying on the floor of the studio – it sent me a bit mad.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
I can't wait to get on stage, because there you don't worry about whether you'll ever get married because your life is insane, or whether you'll ever have another boyfriend again, you don't worry about the typical boundaries of how your life has to be.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
My style of playing is more enthusiasm and instinct than skill.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
When you're heartbroken, you're at your most creative - you have to channel all your energies into something else to not think about it. Contentment is a creativity killer, but don't worry - I'm very capable of making myself discontented.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine
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The first album, for better or for worse, was done over from the ages of 17-22, with a couple of different producers. Some of it was recorded in an old swimming pool, some of it was recorded in a synagogue - it kind of was all over the place.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
I started off singing in church as a child. The sound of voices coming together, that was my first moment of touching something outside of myself.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
I'm just a black hole for stuff. No one should ever hand me anything, because I get so easily distracted. I'll be like, 'Oh, look, something shiny!' I'm glad I never learned how to drive. I would be really dangerous.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
On stage, you can use your emotions. It's the place where you can channel them. They have a purpose.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
I got to live out my 11-year-old fantasies - I got to go on stage with Green Day. Billie Joe called my name from the stage. 'Dookie' was the first album I ever bought. I covered the whole of 'Nimrod' and he'd heard it. That was like the 11-year-old girl dreamed.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
When I am with my family, then I can just sort of switch off. It's kind of weird, because I go back and I go into this bedroom that I have had since I was a teenager. It is like this parallel universe, because one minute I am on the red carpet and then the next I am hiding out in this room I have had since I was 15.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine
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'Dog Days' was recorded with pens and the wall, and half a stolen drum kit that was out of tune, in what was basically a cupboard. The only instrument I could really play was my voice, so we just layered everything a hundred times. It was enthusiasm over skill.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
I feel a responsibility to the fans who have paid to see me and I want to give as good a show as I possibly can.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
During the songs, you transcend yourself. The best way to be in the performance is to be without pause and be essentially in the moment, in that moment of expression.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine -
I'm a light sleeper. I've never been one of those people who can put their head down and suddenly everything disappears. Nighttime is the time I get most scared, anxious or worried. In those darker moments before waking or sleeping is when I feel most, I don't know, I can turn on myself, and my imagination can take me dark places.
Florence Welch Florence and the Machine