The National Quotes
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When I'm writing for certain instruments, you want to write within what you know about that instrument but also challenge the player. Something like 'Aheym' is very virtuosic - but because I have a history of performing music, I don't like unplayable music.
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It's not a hard sell to be asked to do something in Ireland.
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The thing I realised about composition is, we remember most composers for four bars of music. Four singable bars of music. Pretty much any major composer from Debussy to Ravel to Mozart to whoever else - you can kind of hum it.
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There is a kind of adventure- and risk-seeking audience in classical contemporary music that is really empowering and part of what draws me to it. The people that come to these concerts are open-minded and curious.
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Typically, people think, 'Oh the hippies and the punks hated each other,' or that those things don't go together musically. Sometimes that is true, but we had equal parts of both in our musical DNA.
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I'm not trying to take over the world, but I find it really rewarding to write, and I thrive on learning.
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Part of what I enjoy about writing classical music is communicating through the score and collaborating with such amazing musicians.
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Art is a way of life.
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Playing pentatonic scales over orchestral music is not something I want to do or listen to.
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As much as you try to organize your life, life will surprise you.
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The Planned Parenthood 7" project is an example of us putting our noses to the grindstone on and trying to make a little difference. Working on that was my way of handling my own emotions about Donald Trump. I was talking about politics for so long, I just kind of ran out of juice on that.
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Working with Bob Weir directly, we learned how high the bar is for Dead music.
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Obviously, any living musician born after 1960 has been touched by rock and roll. It's the music of our time, and it's 'in the air,' as Steve Reich would say. My experience of it is just really direct because I'm actually playing in a collaborative band.
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There is much more immediate access to creative music through online communities and blogs which have touched all corners of the music world including contemporary classical.
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I like to think of myself as a musical scavenger.
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There's political content in almost every song we've ever written on some level. It colors everything.
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In terms of the music, it feels almost like trouble's a good thing - you never know when a song is going to surprise you. We look for these subversive moments in songs.
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I don't labour over my lead guitar solos; they're better just caught in the moment.
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In fact, after Donald Trump won, some of the relief of finishing record was to turn off all the politics for a while. There were some songs that had more of the political stuff that we just decided to wait on and put aside. A few weeks after the election, I stopped watching cable news and just unplugged. My way of dealing with the new situation we're in was to just work on something that I care about.
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Writing lyrics with your wife does lead to talking about yourselves a lot. But this is not an autobiographical account of my personal marriage. It's almost about the marriage of the band.
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As a pop musician, as someone who makes songs, the best ideas are the simplest. They come, and that's the lightning bolt moment.
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"I'll Still Destroy You" song is lovingly talking about how we change our states of mind, whether it's weed or wine or whatever. It's an ingredient in my life. Sometimes we overindulge ourselves. I've always been okay with that in a funny way. I sing about that stuff a lot, and the dangers of it.
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I like to write on tour busses and airplanes. Something about moving.
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Bands like Arcade Fire finding a larger audience has opened a lot of doors. They've empowered a whole community in Montreal.