Do every stupid thing that makes you feel alive. John Darnielle More Quotes by John Darnielle More Quotes From John Darnielle I start writing, pull whatever images happen to occur to me and make up a story, instead of starting with details that are real and I know of and going from there. John Darnielle detailsrealwriting I think taking too long to work on a record you sort of lose some of the feeling, so I write as fast as I can; it's just this manic phase where I'm by myself and or on tour and I write and I write. And I send them to the guys, and we start planning our studio ventures. John Darnielle writinglongthinking If my songs are being listened to between any other songs, that is awesome, and I'm glad people are getting something out of them. We go to countries like Germany, where I can't imagine that all of my fans are engaging with the lyrics first and foremost. I think they're catching a vibe, a feeling. I consider myself a lyricist first and foremost, but if you get something else out of what I do, that's fine too. I'm not sitting back and telling people how they have to take my stuff. We just want to play music, and hope that people like it. John Darnielle songcountrythinking If my songs are being listened to between any other songs, that is awesome, and I'm glad people are getting something out of them. John Darnielle gladsongpeople Your intelligence doesn't override your desire to destroy yourself. John Darnielle youryourselfintelligencedesire My feminism is what came squarely up against my faith. There's a lot of ecstatic post-patriarchal Christians who have stuff they do with that. But at that point, you're doing Christianity with a double-superscript. The Bible, and especially the book of Genesis, is pretty unapologetically patriarchal. John Darnielle youfaithbiblebook More and more, I enjoy hearing people who are good at their instruments and who've found a distinctive voice. In death metal, a lot of guys are Eddie Van Halen disciples, but they take his style to really expressionistic places. It's a real pleasure for me to hear people pushing their craft. John Darnielle goodmestyledeath At my high school, there were always kids carrying acoustic guitars around, which is why I named my band the Mountain Goats. I didn't want to seem like one of those guys who brought his guitar to the party whether you asked him to or not. John Darnielle youmountainguitarschool I think the self is complicated, that at various times we are all various people, and wrestling actually does a lot with that. You have things like heel turns where a person goes from being a good guy to a bad guy. John Darnielle goodyouselfpeople I always assumed people wanted to hear me tell stories, but then I had 'The Sunset Tree.' It turned out, my own stories were the ones that registered with people the hardest. John Darnielle mesunsettreepeople To me, everything is always new. People involved in my personal life make fun of me a lot for not being jaded. John Darnielle mefunlifepeople Most of 'All Hail West Texas' was written during orientation at a new job I had. I had basically worked this job before, I knew this stuff, so I was writing lyrics in the margins of all the Xeroxed material. John Darnielle newjobnew-jobwriting The better I get at writing songs, the harder it seems to be to relate to people. But when I get on stage, I'm extremely happy. John Darnielle betterwritinghappypeople I was a huge comic book fan. It's weird because the era of 'Marvel' I was into turns out to be very important in the long run, but it's not the one that anybody romanticizes. John Darnielle weirdimportantlongbook Metal has its own code of cool, but it's not really trying to be cool. And that was very refreshing to me, that metal is very much about expressing something that seems awesome to you even if, at the time, much of the world was going to mock and reject it. John Darnielle coolmeyoutime I hang out and sign records for an hour or two hours every night, and I like to hear as many people's stories as I can, because if somebody wants to share their story with me, I want to honor that. John Darnielle mehonornightpeople I still can't manage to keep a journal, and people have been telling me to since the fourth grade. John Darnielle keepstillmepeople There's the dual challenge of wanting to speak from an authentic place, and then being able to be honest about it. Even in the most mannered art, I think that's what people value, is a voice that comes from a real place. John Darnielle challengevaluepeopleart Most of my interests in terms of writing are dark, so it's discordant how much I try to lock into the vibe of wherever I'm at. Inhabiting the life of the imagination is the nature of survival strategy - you build yourself little worlds to enjoy. John Darnielle yourselfyounaturelife I get nostalgic about having lived in Ames, Iowa, even though being a vegetarian in Iowa is not fun. But I really love Durham more than any place I've ever been; some small towns can be really provincial and strangling, but Durham is the best city in the world. John Darnielle citybestloveworld
