Andrew VanWyngarden Quotes
I don't feel too comfortable talking about politics and media as I feel like I don't sound too smart.
I have a bad habit of picking up books about drugs, but that's better than having a drug habit, I think.
We like being ridiculous and I think that's lost on a lot of people, or they think we're coming from this super serious angle, and that's too bad, really.
Usually when I write lyrics I try to read a lot and listen to a lot of other stuff. Some of my favourite lyricists are like Lou Reed, kind of the classics - Bob Dylan and stuff like that.
I think things like YouTube and Twitter are really cool and really good in some ways, but the fact that the news is cutting to a YouTube clip on national TV, I think is really weird.
It's not like we wanted to get really political in terms of specific causes, but I think a lot of the lyrics deal with paranoia and feeling like "the man" is in control somehow.
Maybe we're just stupid and don't realize you can't make music that sounds like a chase scene from a 'Scooby Doo' cartoon and have people take you seriously.
I think that especially in the U.S. there's this kind of sensationalizing of news - and making it almost like CNN and stuff are entertainment networks.
We think about strategies in pop songs to make people listen to them and be like, "What the hell was that?" But then they have to listen to it again.
We like the idea of being a little divisive without making it into some kind of philosophical musical approach, and maybe we can convert some people to our view of the world.
We're really into combining lots of different styles into one song: that's normal for us. It might seem arbitrary but we listen to a lot of music that does that.
We thought of ourselves as musical terrorists at shows - were weren't biting heads off bats, but we wanted to annoy and confront people.
I have the same birthday as George Washington. No I don't. I don't even know who George Washington is.
