Quote

I used to routinely break my ribs doing stupid things onstage, but I have a healthy fear of breaking my bones now.

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
Breaking
Bones
Healthy
Stupid
Break
Fear
Routinely
Used
Ribs
Things
Onstage

More quotes by Michael Gira

Image
As far as playing playing festivals and everything, I feel like that's what I was born to do. I'm an entertainer, hopefully in the best sense.
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
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 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
The sexuality of children - there's a lot friction there. That tension interests me a lot.
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
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'm pretty confident that people are going to come along for the ride. If they don't, tough.
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
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
I'm a producer in the old-school way - not just some slacker working on Pro Tools.
Michael Gira
Image
Playing an old record doesn't interest me at all. It's exactly the opposite of what I want to do.
Michael Gira
Image
Swans are majestic, beautiful looking creatures. With really ugly temperaments.
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
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
I'm the band leader. That's not to say that the other people are my minions - they all put in a tremendous amount of personality, and push the music in ways I would never expect.
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
I like loud electric guitars because I like how you can just lose your entire being in the sound.
Michael Gira
Image
I wanted to challenge myself and move into something new. I felt that using the name Swans and the sonic attitude that that engenders was what I needed to move forward musically, and it's led to lots of new things.
Michael Gira
Image
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