Jonathan Meiburg Quotes

• One of our very favorite shows of 2008 was our Slowtrain instore. We drove straight from San Francisco, pulled up to the back of the store, dragged our entire setup inside and played our new album, Rook, start-to-finish - and they let us get away with it.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  San Francisco, Albums, Stores

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• It may be a product of me being raised in episcopal church, but I have a love for ritual and theater and the significance of doing the exact same thing over and over. So I really love knowing every little thing I'm going to do during a show.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Knowing, Church, May

  "Shearwater". Interview with Jason Crock, pitchfork.com. April 24, 2007.

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• I do like the old versions of our songs - there are good things in them, but I think that the good things that happen in the new ones kind of outweigh that. The murkiness of the first version of the record was not really what we'd intended. It has sort of a dream-like quality, but I feel like that has been preserved in other ways in the newer versions, as well as the bonus disc.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Song, Thinking, Quality

  Source: pitchfork.com

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• When you make a record, you probably are not going to hit exactly what you were aiming for. You also have to let go at a certain point, and just trust it. I remember feeling we had fallen short, or that it had fallen short. At the same time it was great to see a good critical reaction to it, and to hear people were enjoying it, which made me think, "Well, maybe it's a good thing I didn't get exactly what I wanted." Now we're testing that theory.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Letting Go, Thinking, People

  Source: pitchfork.com

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• I felt like the last record was a real step forward for us. I was very pleased to see some people saying the same things - that it was a real departure, that it was much more individual, that it sort of a power of its own. I really did feel those things very strongly, it's our most realized record.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Real, People, Individual

  Source: pitchfork.com

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• It's a very different feeling just sitting around the side, playing piano, and dancing around as opposed to standing in front and singing.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Dancing, Feelings, Singing

  Source: pitchfork.com

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• I still get stage fright every time. I also feel very, very sleepy about a minute before we go on. Like I feel like I'm going to fall asleep. I can't explain it. It's sort of like, "Where's the energy going to come from to play this show?" Then all of a sudden you step up and there it is, it's like it's waiting for you.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Fall, Waiting, Energy

  Source: pitchfork.com

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• Being like stranded without a label in the middle of tour was very strange. On the other hand it made us move instantly. I mean, I didn't wallow. I was like, "Alright, who can we email? Let's just start putting stuff out." I felt like we were playing really well and it was at least worth a shot.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Moving, Mean, Strange

  Source: pitchfork.com

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• The nice thing about being a band that nobody knows about is that you can do whatever you want, you know? Without catching hell for it. That's sort of how we felt about the re-recording, too. I thought, "Well, you know a few people noticed this record the first time around but not so many will really protest if we do it again."

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Nice, People, Hell

  Source: pitchfork.com

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• The only problem with Shearwater as a name for a band is that people sort of think that it's this amalgamated word like Pushmonkey or something. Doesn't have an actual...you know, like Clearwater or Stillwater, they don't realize that it actually is a thing. It seemed like such a beautiful word, I was so suprised that no body had named their band that.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Beautiful, Thinking, People

  Source: pitchfork.com

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• The thing is that honestly we haven't had an audience. And we have a chance to have an audience now. Which is great because I think we've sort of evolved as a band to the point where I think we might actually be interesting to go see.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Thinking, Interesting, Chance

  Source: pitchfork.com

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• I feel like we've kind of gone through a transformation in the past year. I don't know what happened but we've somehow gelled in a way that we never have before. The live show has become much more powerful and interesting to me. I really feel like we're learning to negotiate the dynamics of it and keep it interesting. It feels like we're becoming much more comfortable and in tune with one another.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Powerful, Past, Interesting

  Source: pitchfork.com

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• You feel the camaraderie that you're all driving around in vans, you know, engaged in musical enterprise. It's pretty much the same for everybody except for the 40 minutes that you're on the stage. Other than that, I do feel like we're off on our own path. It's sort of exciting.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Musical, Path, Driving

  Source: pitchfork.com

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• I really want to try to protect as much as I can, to safeguard peoples' first experience with a record. Because I want you to get the whole thing as one integrated piece, because it's not like I'm narrating stories with music behind them.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Trying, Music Is, Protect

  Source: pitchfork.com

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• I don't feel [the] excitement you have when you first walk into a recording studio. It now feels like a tool.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Tools, Firsts, Excitement

  "Shearwater". Interview with Jason Crock, pitchfork.com. April 24, 2007.

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• I get more excited about like, "How nice is the piano?" or "How does the room sound?" I don't really see the gear so much anymore.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Nice, Piano, Sound

  "Shearwater". Interview with Jason Crock, pitchfork.com. April 24, 2007.

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• When you make a record, you probably are not going to hit exactly what you were aiming for. You also have to let go at a certain point, and just trust it.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Letting Go, Records, Certain

  "Shearwater". Interview with Jason Crock, pitchfork.com. April 24, 2007.

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• I just like dealing with scientists for awhile and then going over and dealing with musicians for awhile. They both have qualities that kind of counterbalance each other.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Quality, Musician, Kind

  "Shearwater". Interview with Jason Crock, pitchfork.com. April 24, 2007.

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• I don't consider myself a very religious person in any.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Religious, Persons, Religious Person

  "Shearwater". Interview with Jason Crock, pitchfork.com. April 24, 2007.

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• I certainly think there are things that impressed me as a child about the church. The smells and the sounds and the pagaentry of it remained with me. The aesthetic I really love. I think a lot of my sense of melody comes from singing those hymns and doing the renaissance music and stuff.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Children, Thinking, Smell

  "Shearwater". Interview with Jason Crock, pitchfork.com. April 24, 2007.

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• The nice thing about being a band that nobody knows about is that you can do whatever you want.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Nice, Band, Want

  "Shearwater". Interview with Jason Crock, pitchfork.com. April 24, 2007.

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• I like having some things very clear while other things are obscured... so that it kind of keeps coming into and out of focus.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Focus, Kind, Clear

  "Shearwater". Interview with Jason Crock, pitchfork.com. April 24, 2007.

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• It's not like I'm narrating stories with music behind them. It's all kind of one thing. You hope you can provoke a specific emotional reaction, but in ways that aren't quite plain.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Emotional, Stories, Way

  "Shearwater". Interview with Jason Crock, pitchfork.com. April 24, 2007.

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• When I was writing some of songs for the record in Galapagos it was the feeling of being there I wanted to evoke more than anything. I remember hearing all the parts of the songs in my mind when I was walking around over the lava fields.

  Jonathan Meiburg

  Song, Writing, Feelings

  "Shearwater". Interview with Jason Crock, pitchfork.com. April 24, 2007.

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