There's not a lot of thinking that I need to do away from the studio on Broken Bells stuff. James Mercer More Quotes by James Mercer More Quotes From James Mercer There's no real reason for me to be so obsessed with trying to understand the true nature of things. You can live a perfectly happy life being utterly confused and not knowing. James Mercer confused real happy-life Honestly, humans are social creatures that really crave intimacy, and I think that the friends I have who are trying to somehow go it alone are suffering for it. James Mercer suffering trying thinking The love you have for your kids is so overwhelmingly powerful that it alters your perspective. The dark things going on in the world become very poignant and vivid. James Mercer powerful love-you kids I have no ethics when it comes to art. You just do what you can to make it as beautiful as you can. James Mercer ethics beautiful art The way I was brought up, there was a little bit of prodding to do something more practical, and I wasted a lot of time trying to be a practical person. James Mercer person time trying way I kinda learned to sing singing to Echo and the Bunnymen songs and Smiths songs: Morrissey would be a big favorite. James Mercer sing songs big singing I've never been one to think it was cheating to sample this or to loop the drum part there - I've always done that. Even using four-track cassette recorders, I was always doing whatever I could to make it as good as I could. James Mercer never good think cheating Maybe it's just parenthood that puts you in a situation where you just have to develop a new attitude, I guess, about things. James Mercer new you situation attitude For the longest time, I didn't even want to admit I was serious about music. Before the Shins, I would tell myself, 'Oh, I'm going to figure something out someday.' I had this romantic vision of being this old dude maybe making guitars or something. James Mercer myself music time romantic My hope is that one day I'll be able to work and have a quieter life, but still a creative life. James Mercer day hope work life I was really shy as a kid. James Mercer really kid shy The fact that I'm often pushing my voice as hard as I can is from playing in nightclubs in Albuquerque where you don't have a good sound system. James Mercer good you i-can voice I've always sort of felt like what the Shins is, I guess, is a vehicle for my writing. James Mercer like always vehicle writing My dad was a Navy munitions officer, and by the end of his career, he was a specialist in nuclear weapons. James Mercer end career navy dad I tend to write a pretty half and half split of, like, slow, morose things and then sort of more upbeat stuff. James Mercer slow more things like I sit and write songs alone and then get together with people to help me flesh it out into a recording. James Mercer alone me together people Collaboration is something I missed at one point in The Shins. I really wanted to have that experience again, you know, not having everything rely on me. I wanted to have a partner. James Mercer partner me you experience So happy that Broken Bells is a thing in my life and really cool in so many ways. Not only, like, as something to sell records and be a band and whatnot, but just to give me an outlet and give me a fresh approach on things. James Mercer my-life cool me life I'm real happy. I've been lucky in love, and I've got a wonderful kid now, and things have been going well. James Mercer lucky real happy love For some reason, it seems like pop writers, it's like they just get worse or something over time. And then you're really jealous of movie directors whose careers seem to grow and they'll be 70 years old and still doing these incredible jobs. I'm going to reverse that, I hope. James Mercer you jealous hope time
