John Gourley Quotes
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When we were kids, my favorite thing was coming to upstate New York where my family is from and hanging out with my grandparents' friends pre-Internet and them asking if we had stores or 'Do you have TV in Alaska?'
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That's really important in a producer - a producer that can step up and play a keyboard, play a bass, play a guitar, and help you with things instead of just saying, 'I think this could be better.'
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Weird Al was something that kids would listen to. It's funny, super funny, smart. It's just kind of jokey. I remember hearing 'Smells Like Nirvana' before hearing 'Smells Like Teen Spirit.' That's how it really worked. I think it's just such a cool thing how he introduced us to so many cool bands. Even Queen - 'Another One Rides the Bus.'
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When I talk to my mom and dad, and I'm in Paris, I'm like, 'Can you believe it?' It's ridiculous. I have a serious love for what we do. It's not something we take for granted.
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As much as we love an excuse to dress up, the red carpet is not the place.
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We've always done what we do, and we go out and try and get better with each record we make.
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I think we're pretty spiritual people, the band in general. We're not a bunch of hippies or anything like that, but we like to work together and work with people. We believe that positive energy is pretty necessary in life, although it's not always easy to maintain.
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There are some athletes who I feel like are just looking for likes, and then there are people who are just real.
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My dad builds houses, and, for the earlier portion of my life anyway, we moved around quite a bit. It took us to some just really amazing places.
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Right after we recorded 'Satanic Satanist' and 'American Ghetto' here in Boston, we decided we'd grow our hair out. This is - was - like the Beatles thing. I wanted to see these pictures later in life.
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I feel like rock n' roll has become very tame.
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To me, sci-fi has the most amazing style.
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Whether it be tour posters, album packaging, videos, stage design, etc., the visual aspect of music is very important to us.
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I've never been the type of person that puts things on a shelf or, like, needs to clean my sneakers every day. I just wear what I like.
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There's no making art for art's sake. You've got to make the best art you can.
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I feel like every album we make, that's our debut album.
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I like the challenge of writing music without being the coolest guy or band in the room.
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Portugal. The Man, to me, doesn't have any real ties. We try to change things up with every album, really progress, and let things happen.
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I grew up in Alaska, okay? My dad graduated high school and went straight to the mountains. He had $300 and staked a claim. He didn't even have enough to put a title on the land: just had the records that he bought before he moved.
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My dad just left high school in '69, went to Woodstock, and after half a year of college for architecture, just took off for Alaska. He bought a van and went straight into the mountains and built a cabin.
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As a songwriter, it's good to have criticism, and I like objective opinions.
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Great musicians need great producers. The Beatles had George Martin.
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We tour, we do the distance from friends and family, not really knowing how to connect with people on the same level. I've understood now, as much as we tour, we live day-to-day, so our lives are much different than the people who stay at home and go home every night.
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Levis are my go-to. Plain crew necks and jeans.