Ezra Furman Quotes
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A lot of bands break through with their third record: the White Stripes, the Clash, the Replacements.
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The first music I loved on my own was punk.
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Jews like to write and sing. In America, a lot of us have been eager to show that we're part of American culture. But it all goes back to King David writing Psalms.
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I just don't care that much about the band name. I'm not so precious about it. The Harpoons were different people, but The Boy-Friends were and are the same people as The Visions. I changed it to The Visions when we made 'Transangelic Exodus' because I guess we didn't feel so friendly and boyish anymore.
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I could write a joke song really easily, but I think something that might be true for my generation is that there's a certain irony or detachedness expected of us, even though we really feel sincere. So the only way to sincerity is through a joke.
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We spent a lot of time making 'Transangelic Exodus' and toward the end of it, my ability and my love for music - that is, just garage music, direct and immediate - started to feel neglected.
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Once you admit how bad it feels to live in a broken society, you can start to resist it, and imagine a better one.
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I honestly feel like I've been mostly toiling in obscurity until a little bit after 'Day Of the Dog' came out.
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I think most of the work of songwriting is thinking of great phrases - I'm addicted, always on the hunt for a really great phrase.
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I first got into music when I heard punk, and it was saying maybe it's OK if you don't live up to the expectations various authorities have for you.
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Ezra Furman And The Boy-Friends was a band with a specific mission - to be a really good rock'n'roll band. And we achieved it.
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I love it when people write rapturously about music they love.
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I am frustrated at misconceptions of me, and being cast in a role.
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Desperate times make for desperate songs.
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There is something embarrassing about asking for money, but if I hadn't done that, I would have not continued to be a professional musician.
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If you're trying to deal with being a marginalized person and trying to confront a larger population that isn't the same as you, you can be friendly about it, and invite everybody in, or you can be angry about it and be hostile and attack the systems that you want to destabilize.
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More visibility is more power, but more vulnerability.
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I think I'm gradually becoming a more politically aware person.
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I'm trying to be an activist, and I think of that as separate from my work as an artist. But it isn't.
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I want to make the greatest record ever made. It's the only thing I can think about.
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Judaism is a way of thinking, more than anything else, that I think is entirely distinct, and the more you know of it, the more you can enter into that kind of thinking.
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I wrote 'My Teeth Hurt' in April 2018 when my teeth hurt and I didn't have dental insurance.
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I think of myself as someone who's trying to be a great songwriter and a great performer. And I mean really great.
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I'm a big fan of Louis CK - I think he's a master of standup.