Andrew Hozier-Byrne Quotes
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When I write songs, I try to remove myself a little bit. Obviously, they're very personal to me, but it feels easier if I feel like I'm writing characters.
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The success of 'Take Me To Church,' I never imagined it. I never imagined that it would work on radio, that it would find its way onto the charts, even at home and certainly not in America.
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I feel my duty is to make music.
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The main thing is, I can't stay up late partying when I'm on tour. That's not good for my voice or my health in general.
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Much of social media can be seen as the 'News of me.' It's not so much a platform for connecting and sharing as it is a platform for advertising the idea of yourself you want to portray to others: the image of yourself you want to project.
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Religion wasn't imposed on me. I dabbled with faith, and I explored religion quite thoroughly.
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I think it all started with Nina Simone. When I was maybe seven or eight, I used to listen to one of her albums every night before I went to sleep. For me, her voice was everything.
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I am a politically motivated person, and that will come through in the music.
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Certainly in the case of having to answer questions about where a song comes from, it's a hell of a lot easier when you say, 'I've removed myself from it.' But they start from quite a personal place. They always do.
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I spent quite a bit of time in choirs, growing up, and in the world-touring music group Anuna.
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The way I did the first album... the way I wrote 'Church'... was just to trust my instincts with the music and let it kind of do what it does.
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I look at all good things with a bit of a dark lens, I suppose, especially with something like love.
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There are a few Irish writers who have a very strong influence on me, especially on the 'Take Me to Church' EP.
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You grow up and recognize that in any educated secular society, there's no excuse for ignorance. You have to recognize in yourself, and challenge yourself, that if you see racism or homophobia or misogyny in a secular society, as a member of that society, you should challenge it. You owe it to the betterment of society.
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I will play around with an idea for a very long time until it's found it's feet and it's good enough to become a song.
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I love Muddy Waters and Nina Simone. I also watched 'The Blues Brothers' movie over and over.
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I try to face things without regret, or make sure that I'm happy with things and leave nothing unsaid if I can.
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I think all that we would know of America back home is foreign policy, and maybe the snippets of the madness of political culture.
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When you play to an audience, you come away energized. It's the promo that really breaks an artist. Some lad sitting on a box trying to create a drum sound in a dry little studio. Everyone goes, 'Great - okay, now on with my day.' You go back to the bus, and you weep.
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If I could, I'd sing old French songs or American folk music, but I sure as hell can't do it as well as Mississippi John Hurt - no way in hell am I getting near that!
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I was essentially raised on blues music. My dad was a blues musician around Dublin when I was a baby, so the only music I would listen to growing up was John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters. It's music that feels like home to me.
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Things were never as exciting for me as the first gig in New York.
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I love the sound of voices singing together, congregational singing, anything like gospel, or folk, or sea shanties. I spent quite a bit of time in choirs growing up, and in the world-touring music group, Anuna. It's a sound with very rich texture, voices singing together.
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I'm not cross about the idea of baptism; I just think the idea that when a child is born it is inherently sinful and carries sin and needs to be cleaned in order for it to be all right and all good with its creator, I just think that's an absurd notion.