R.X. Bird Quotes

I don't write poetry and then strum some chords and then fit the words on top of the chords.

I write a lot more when I'm happy, because you're hopeful, you're motivated.

No, it's not dissatisfaction that inspires me to tinker with my songs, it's just restlessness.

The first notes I still play when I start a sound check are classical. Those are my roots.

The idea of writing songs because you're depressed and you need to communicate it somehow, that isn't really true for me.

I don't like to disappear between records. I like to play shows while I'm making the record.

The way I work, I'm not a confessional singer-songwriter.

I put a lot into my records, and I won't release anything I'm not totally thrilled with.

I've never approached classical music in a formal way, ever. I couldn't read very well. I'd have to play every piece and internalize it, almost as if I had written it myself.

I really believe there's more honesty in one live show than there may be in my whole output.

Some of my earlier songs are kind of more about mental illness.

With digital sound just becomes simply information, not the sum of its parts.

I definitely have to give myself permission, like on "Master Swarm," to rip a lead on that. Just play a violin solo that's - it's a bit showoff-y, but it's fun, so who cares?

I don't like super-descriptive modern fiction. I like, "Here's what was happening in 1582 all over the planet." Then that gets my imagination going.

Most of the songs that I appreciate are lyrically vague.

With the words, a lot of things start with questions. Some word kind of piques my interest, and I love the way it sounds, but I really don't know what it means. And I honestly don't care for a while.

Norman is a very up-close, personal, character drama and I'd like to do something more zoomed out, a little more pastoral, some sweeping epic. I'd like to try something different.

I didn't have the patience for the research, or anything like that. I just like how it sets the imagination off. It's just an area that's very fertile for great words. Great metaphors, potentially.

Sometimes the word dictated the melody.

If you take a little time, let's say three weeks off, after recording a song, and you listen to it every other day, you're just going to know eventually.

It's not set in stone. I like to keep it rolling and changing, and so I am like, "Great, I get to remake my song."

The music that I write is often not necessarily full of doom and gloom. You'll notice in most of the darkest songs, the music is actually pretty peaceful and lulling.

When I'm onstage, I'm completely comfortable, and I feel very vital and alive.

Songwriting requires some sort of ceremony to even get the process started, and it can be somewhat arbitrary.

What's cool about indie rock is that one band can do effectively the same thing as another band, and one band nails it, and the other one doesn't. I like that elusiveness.

Sometimes I just think we're not meant to fly halfway around the world in a day. That some kind of mutation is going to happen.

Every time I make a record, it's kind of like scarification or something. You work 15 hours until you're stupid. You're just kind of all jittery.

There's always that struggle between me wanting to keep [song] new and fresh and then be - I can never get with pop songs being so repetitive.

You can build up expectations for a song before you record it, and then it's like nothing's good enough in the studio.

People who are thinking about your music almost as much as you are, that almost never happens.

I still play solo shows. And some of those shows are still some of the best, most gratifying shows.

It's like you don't know you're making a record unless you're half-killing yourself.

The real drag is trying to fly from country to country, day of show, with all your gear. You get hassled all the time. It's hard trying to keep it together.

You're buying for the benefit of the cottage experience at a fraction of the price.

Even in hand drawn animation, humans are widely considered to be the most difficult to execute, because everybody has a feeling for how they move.

Well what's funny is, again, people say they believed what was going on, but again, Bob's hands are about three times bigger than his feet. So these are very caricatured.

"His words moved people closer to God." I'd be happy if that's what people said about me at the end of the day. It's always been my calling.

I grew up in church and it's always been important to me. I've always had a sense of calling to do life and faith-affirming media.

I was a writer since I was a little kid. It just always sort of fit for me.

I'm not Michelangelo but I would like to be that. I'll never be him but I'm trying to strive to do that in my work.

My work is never perfect. It always can be better but I just believe that we need to achieve a really high level of excellence. I don't believe in the "Good Enough" principle as a Christian.

I love Washington, but it is a self-important town.

I can see why fans don't like to watch pro basketball. I don't, either. It's not exciting.

My goal was just to try and be the best player on my high school team, and look where I am now. And that was still my goal as a young kid, just to try and be a little better than my brother was.

Who in their right mind wouldn't listen to what Larry Bird tells them? He knows what it takes to be a successful player, and he's letting us do the things to have the success.

Guys like Larry Bird -- he played so hard, he wants everybody else to play hard. That's not unreasonable. Any coach would want that and demand that.

I think you have to work very hard and dedicate yourself and have the respect of your teammates before you're about to go out and just try to take a game over by yourself.

It's been a journey, the NBA. It's taken me a lot farther than I ever expected.

I think a lot of blue collar people related to me because a lot of people work for their money.

The nature of competition is such that any number of people invariably have their eyes on the same prize you do. Recognize your assets and employ them to the best of your ability.