I feel like there's not as many bands anymore. It's more like there's a front-person and a band supporting them, solo-type spirits that have a look, a vibe, a message, a voice and a style. I was talking about it with a journalist in Europe; he was like, "You're a democracy; everyone in the band does stuff." There's not a lot of bands I can think of that still have it so every member of the band has an equal say. I was like, dude, you're right. I can't really think of any right now. There might be one or two leaders in them, but there are not a lot of bands like that anymore.
Ed DrosteEvery album has a thing where it's like, "How are we going to marry our four ideas and personalities?" The older we get, the more people become comfortable with their strengths and weaknesses. Being in a band with such a long history can be frustrating and slow, but ultimately it's so much more rewarding.
Ed DrosteIt is definitely much easier to feel that an album is disposable - to dismiss an album or delete the tracks you don't like or to just throw it into shuffle or whatever.
Ed DrosteThere's a particular trend towards the empty pop song right now. Where people are like, "This. Is. Brilliant. She's singing about a crush on somebody. Wowww." You know what I mean? There's a weird, I don't know... It's called "poptimism."
Ed DrosteMy mother was a music teacher and my grandfather was a professor of music, and there was a lot of singing in the family. It wasn't like trained singing or anything like that, but it was singing.
Ed DrosteI've always loved to sing with somewhat vague lyrics so people can have their own interpretation and find their own meaning with it. I've become a bit more comfortable speaking about personal matters within the lyrics, but at the same time, there is an element where I'm not always sure how far I want to take it. There are certain topics that I'm discussing that I haven't explicitly explained to my bandmates. That's just for me to know, and I'm not going to talk about it anywhere.
Ed Droste