My parents know that I have always been sort of a dark melodramatic kid, so they were never concerned.
Matt BerningerIt is the melody and the rhythm that are by far the most important and then words and imagery and stuff, story bits will start to stick to a melody and that is the way I write.
Matt BerningerIt takes us a long time to write a song that we all really like, so it makes sense that it would take a while for the listener to get there, too.
Matt BerningerI think most people start rock bands in their early twenties or teens, but I was almost thirty at the time when the band started really doing anything and it took another several years before people started caring about us.
Matt BerningerWhen you realize that the baby's healthy and born, it's a release and you're so happy.
Matt BerningerI've never had so much fun being back at my job sitting in front of my computer. Compared to 10 months on the road, going home and sleeping in my own bed every night is really nice.
Matt BerningerGetting 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 BerningerMaybe because I have spent too much of my life in rock clubs. I don't really go to parties anymore either. I'll usually be in the bus by 11:30 after a show.
Matt BerningerSomehow, you realize you can kind of do anything in music. You don't have to be good at a certain thing; you can just do whatever you want.
Matt BerningerWeirdly, I was still trying to be the older brother, and trying to get him [Tom Berninger] to try to be more like me a little bit. Or not be more like me but... I was frustrated that he sometimes let things stop him in his life, and he let the wind get knocked out of his sails a few times.
Matt BerningerMusic has got a community vibe to it that pulls people together, and those communities are different in different places.
Matt BerningerI can only write songs when somebody gives me some water to swim in. Otherwise, I'm a fish on the beach.
Matt BerningerI became at peace with the darkness or the personality that I have. I am usually pretty funny and happy.
Matt BerningerOnce 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.
Matt BerningerI don't want somebody telling my daughter who she can marry, or what she can do with her body. That's what was at stake.
Matt BerningerThe song 'Humiliation' is kind of about what if, outside of a dinner party or something, I was blown up by a drone missile, out by the pool. What an embarrassing way to go.
Matt BerningerI'm going to keep drinking on stage. I have a pretty healthy relationship with alcohol. I know how far to go and when to stop.
Matt BerningerWhen I have just sat down and tried to write the lyrics of a song, usually about half of it sounds like bullshit. I just have to go away from something and come back to it again later. 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 BerningerI'm not saying I'm not a moody guy sometimes, but I think I have a pretty normal balance.
Matt BerningerI've never quite felt totally comfortable up on stage. I've gotten more comfortable, but drinking wine is a crutch that gives me a little courage. It helps me lose a little bit of the self-consciousness and the awareness of how awkward it is standing on a stage with lights and a bunch of people looking at you while you sing love songs.
Matt BerningerI usually always think of characters and sometimes the characters are a little bit invented, so it's nice to give these invented, blurry, personas an actually name. It makes me get closer to them or something like that. But they're not all real, they're weird amalgamations of reality.
Matt BerningerNot all the songs are real events, but I do write about stuff that is close to my heart and it comes out one way or another.
Matt BerningerTrying to make it and get people to respect your band, being a cool band-all of that stuff-I think we've arrived at a place where we have kids and everything is in perspective and it doesn't matter.
Matt BerningerI'm doing a little freelance work, and I think everybody's trying to take their minds off rock and roll for a little while and get some perspective.
Matt BerningerI'm trying to figure out how to record at home because I have a tiny house and a seven-year-old and my wife also works at home. So I can't work in the house because she's trying to write, so I pitched a tent in the backyard. I'm literally trying to record in the tent.
Matt BerningerYou gotta lean towards the things that make you like yourself. Forget everything else.
Matt BerningerA 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 BerningerWe were always in the shadows of the stuff that was getting more attention. So people learned to listen to us slowly over time. And, frankly, we learned how to listen to ourselves. It takes us a long time to write a song that we all really like, so it makes sense that it would take a while for the listener to get there, too.
Matt BerningerSadness is not always the worst feeling. Sometimes it's a really pleasurable thing to be overwhelmed with sadness.
Matt BerningerI never sit and fill a journal with lyrics. Most of the time I'm trying to write a feeling, not a story. I'm not necessarily trying to describe the details of a place or event so much as the feeling of the thing. It is a kind of weird alchemy that is elusive until it feels right.
Matt BerningerIt's not hard to connect with the music on an emotional level and get inside the songs. It's odd, very vulnerable, and slightly embarrassing to be standing and singing and playing music in front of a bunch of strangers.
Matt BerningerI'd say recording and playing on stage are two completely different things. Being up in front of all people is like jumping off a cliff into icy water. The recording process is a totally different energy.
Matt BerningerA song is a song and, if I am emotionally connected to do it, whether it is sad or not sad, I am going to chase that song.
Matt BerningerThere are records that you just sink into. They coincide with what youโre going through and become an ally. If our records do that for people, thatโs the greatest compliment I could ever receive. Thatโs one of the reasons making music is so important to me, because thereโs a very strange emotional reach. For meโmore than books or movies or other thingsโmusic is like a mainline to your heart.
Matt Berninger