Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave know best. Although I wear a lot of jeans, I’ve been told that Nick Cave doesn’t own a pair and wouldn’t be caught dead in denim. – Matt Berninger
At first, when ‘Boxer’ came out, people were a little let down, and we worried that it might be the end for us. But then it began to grow on people. ‘Boxer’ bought us our creative freedom. – Matt Berninger
I do a lot of editing and switching around and putting little pieces together to get the right mood and personality, and it takes me forever to get a song finished. – Matt Berninger
I’m a stubborn guy that loses his temper, sometimes driving the station wagon in the wrong direction for hours and hours and never admitting that he’s gone the wrong way. – Matt Berninger
The same song can have drastically different feels and personalities just by changing some minor things. A different drumbeat or some vocal overdub could completely transform the song. – Matt Berninger
A person with grace is somebody who’s socially graceful or is a classy person, but sometimes you just feel the opposite of that, and you just feel like a jerk and a loser and a weirdo. – Matt Berninger
‘Alligator’ was the first record that anyone paid attention to, and it seemed like it was the screamy songs that got us that attention. – Matt Berninger
A lot of the lyrics I write involve images that just swing the song in a way that feels really good to me and there isn’t a literal explanation. They’re not riddles for the listener to solve. – Matt Berninger
When it comes to lyrics, I just write down a lot of things, and only a very tiny fraction of it, I think, is any good. – Matt Berninger
The lyrics are what I work on the hardest, but I’m not trying to make a perfectly clear message or anything like that. In fact, I’m usually trying to avoid saying something too directly, because usually that rings false anyway. – Matt Berninger
People will dig their heels in and fight for the things they love and against the things they hate. – Matt Berninger
Once you do have a child, you want to talk about every detail of it. And it is really boring to all your friends, and it should be. I was really worried about even going there at all. – Matt Berninger
I love to make songs out of some of those shadows – you know, some of the things you lie awake thinking about, social anxieties and romantic insecurities and all that stuff. – Matt Berninger
My favourite store? Seize Sur Vingt in New York. They make most of my suits, and they are really cool people. – Matt Berninger
Getting on stage and performing and standing under lights is such an unsettling experience – in a good and bad way – but it’s the only place I can go to feel comfortable. – Matt Berninger
