Rostam Batmanglij Quotes

Obviously it always takes longer to finish an album than you think it will. That's always going to be the case. Everything takes longer than you think it will. Occasionally things happen fast.

It's hard to say how time factors into your work, because sometimes things will come to you very quickly, but it will take years for the ideas to be gestating in your mind.

It took me some time to join the various streams of making music that was technically good and making music that made me feel good.

At some point I decided I didn't want to learn any more guitar technique. I was at that level where the next mountain there was to climb was Van Halen and I didn't really like Van Halen.

I took one piano lesson and hated it and then didn't take any piano lessons until I was 18.

'Unbelievers' was a song that we felt like we could tackle, so that's one of the reasons we wanted to start playing it live, we really believed in that song and we still believe in that song a lot.

We've always said that our band is pretty much an open system and there's no rules governing anything... so who knows what the future will hold?

I like the idea that a song can be something that you can lean on, both for the songwriter and for the person who hears the song.

We thought there was also something that was humorous but at the same time powerful and deep about naming the album, 'Modern Vampires Of The City'.