Quote

Many of the songs were written as a way of paying tribute to specific people, but in the end the songs took on a life of their own and I didn't worry about accuracy or biographical truth, so it's not a problem.

Michael Gira

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Michael Gira
Age: 70
Born: 1954
Born: February 19
Composer
Guitarist
Musician
Poet
Record Producer
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Writer
LA
California
Michael Rolfe Gira
Truth
Specific
Problem
Songs
Many
Took
Way
Worry
Life
Written
Biographical
People
Song
Accuracy
Didn
Tribute
Ends
Paying

More quotes by Michael Gira

Image
I'm a producer in the old-school way - not just some slacker working on Pro Tools.
Michael Gira
Image
I went to art school and never thought I'd be a musician, but then punk rock came along in the late 70s and kind of ruined my life. So I quit art school to get involved in music and I've been doing it ever since.
Michael Gira
Image
I have my own record company. I have to answer to God, basically. I'm not young, so I want to make the best possible work I can before I exit.
Michael Gira
Image
When I first started doing the quieter, more acoustic material in Swans, there was a lot of derision and outright hatred from the audience and press, just as in the early days of Swans when we were rejected outright because of the bludgeoning, single-minded violence of the music.
Michael Gira
Image
I'm more interested in pulling out strands of joy from both myself and the audience. I'm not saying the music or songs are light, just that when they're performed with the correct commitment it's a source of real pleasure, for me anyway.
Michael Gira
Image
You make your work and you can't ask for approval when you're doing it. Otherwise, it's going to be untruthful in some way.
Michael Gira
Image
Swans are majestic, beautiful looking creatures. With really ugly temperaments.
Michael Gira
Image
I got involved, for the most part, in the actual song construction, lyrics even. I didn't want to write the lyrics, but if there was a howler in there, I definitely pointed it out. Just trying to bring it up to a higher level. Of course, after a couple records, people get fed up with that. That's fine.
Michael Gira
Image
I don't throw my body down on the stage at all anymore because I'm sure I'd snap like a twig.
Michael Gira
Image
I never wrote poetry, just prose. I don't really consider songwriting a form of poetry either. The words are important, of course, but they're dependent on the music.
Michael Gira
Image
The goal is ecstasy, but I don't want to make some sort of saccharine pop music. I want to make something that's completely uncompromising: the best possible music ever made.
Michael Gira
Image
I really wanted to get to the animal core of rock music and eliminate anything that wasn't necessary.
Michael Gira
Image
The music takes you. It has to be alive. It's like you hammer something, and the way it happens to bleed leads you into new directions.
Michael Gira
Image
Nina Simone was an entertainer. Bob Dylan was an entertainer. Anyone that can occupy a piece of music and make the air catch on fire at that moment is a true entertainer. That's how I view it. That's what I was meant to do. I love doing it. That's why I'm on earth.
Michael Gira
Image
I like loud electric guitars because I like how you can just lose your entire being in the sound.
Michael Gira
Image
The sexuality of children - there's a lot friction there. That tension interests me a lot.
Michael Gira
Image
When I walk around New York now, there are so many ghosts. I find it very uncomfortable. There were many hard years, and I never really achieved any kind of comfortable financial success, so I just associate it with struggle. When I had a chance to get out, I was elated.
Michael Gira
Image
Maybe in the future I'll put out someone's one-off project, but generally I don't have time.
Michael Gira
Image
I could never release something on the label I didn't personally love. The label's really an extension of my own musical career, and I'm intensely involved with every aspect personally, so it'd be a betrayal to myself if I released something simply because I thought it would make money.
Michael Gira
Image
Making those CDs, signing them, numbering them, packing them. It takes hundreds of hours, but it's worth it because I'm able to do the thing I love.
Michael Gira