I read a lot – surveys of vernacular music. A lot of it is the Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music, which I’ve loved since I was in high school.
BRADFORD COXYou think about people like Elvis, Kurt Cobain, or the Beatles, who grew up without privilege and needed a certain validation through peoples’ acceptance, or admiration from their peers. And money is part of that, but it always comes too late.
More Bradford Cox Quotes
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My entire education in music was in reading interviews with bands like Stereolab and finding out about Brazilian music or a Romanian composer. You expose yourself to what people you look up to admire.
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I need punk rock. It’s the medicine for me, but it’s bitter and sickening. If you don’t need it – if you’re happy and healthy – run toward that.
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Talk to Arto Lindsay and I’m sure he’s tired of people asking him about DNA; he’s probably really into what he’s doing now, which is good stuff.
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For me, experimenting involves traditionalism.
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I think people are intimidated by me, and I don’t know why. Sometimes even my own bandmates can be intimidated, or irritated, by me.
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Contrary to popular belief, maybe, I’m a really friendly guy, I guess, and I really like meeting people. And I’m not really super impressed even if you’re my hero.
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I don’t like the sound of my own voice. And, for people I don’t know, their impression of me is what they read on the internet, and they’re so far off a lot of the time.
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I’m not meaning that in a disrespectful way; you go where people want to hear your music. So if that’s where people want to hear me play.
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Unfortunately it’s hard for me to be a fanboy for anything these days just because I see so much music.
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We all come back to our little worlds.
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I want to build an audience that’s willing to follow us in whichever direction we might choose.
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The first thing I think I ever played in public, aside from singing in church, would have been – and this is a true story – when I was about nine or 10 years old, I was obsessed with Twin Peaks.
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When money and fame happen too late, it’s like pouring kerosene over a fire of self-loathing.
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I like my solitude, and I’m a strong-willed person; I’m a very hard-to-be-around person sometimes, I guess.
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Unlike the rest of everyone I hang around with, I don’t drink, so I remember what happened after shows. And I have never hit on anyone after a show, I’m not that kind of person. Even if I was attracted to someone, I’d be too shy.
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