I 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 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 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 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 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