“ Metal isn't necessarily aggressive. There's metal that's contemplative, there's metal that's sad, and there's metal that's exuberant. No genre is limited in what it can express. John Darnielle
“ And when the clouds do clear awayGet a momentary chance to seeThe thing I've been trying to beat to deathThe soft creature that I used to beThe better animal I used to be John Darnielle
“ Their boots were black and shiny and your treasures gleamed like stars,Bones from deep down in the fertile crescent. John Darnielle
“ I think 'The Sunset Tree' is really the album on which I really learned to trust other musicians, which is so important. John Darnielle
“ You get this really cool groove when you're playing just piano, bass, and drums where everyone's sort of feeling each other's space, which is the only way to put it, but it really is true, and everyon… John Darnielle
“ Opera combines pretty basic theater and poetry, but the storyline itself is actually quite poetic and, after some digital research, taking that actual content and seeing it as undeniably poetic. John Darnielle
“ My feminism is what came squarely up against my faith. There's a lot of ecstatic post-patriarchal Christians who have stuff they do with that. But at that point, you're doing Christianity with a doubl… John Darnielle
“ When you punish a person for dreaming his dreamDon't expect him to thank or forgive you. John Darnielle
“ Cool parents, I thought, are the ones who know nothing. It made me feel a little sad for mine, but I didn't say any of this. John Darnielle
“ People like to say how much they like stuff, but with 'The Sunset Tree,' people shared stories about what it meant for them. And that stuff's so humbling and amazing. John Darnielle
“ Most of my interests in terms of writing are dark, so it's discordant how much I try to lock into the vibe of wherever I'm at. Inhabiting the life of the imagination is the nature of survival strategy… John Darnielle
“ Metal has its own code of cool, but it's not really trying to be cool. And that was very refreshing to me, that metal is very much about expressing something that seems awesome to you even if, at the… John Darnielle
“ And then I went back into my room, locked into a sequence as perfect as a pattern, and I sat down on my great rock throne, invisible to the outside world but palpable beneath me, and from how my face… John Darnielle
“ The inside of the Trace Italian, of course, does not exist. A player can get close enough to see it: it shines in the new deserts of Kansas, gleaming in the sun or starkly rising from the winter cold.… John Darnielle