Alex Kapranos Quotes

Being in a band didn't buy me my beans on toast!

People's musical tastes are fickle, and music can be a fashion.

Boredom or being sick of what you've done before is a big part of being in a band.

A lot of food criticism has a similar flavor to it, and I'm probably going to write about it in a different way.

I think in the world of indie music there's this sort of false modesty.

The best songwriting comes from being as creative as you can and editing it down to the good bits, essentially.

Of course, there's a certain type of person who feels that anything which becomes mainstream has to be rejected immediately. And that's part of the indie-alternative snobbery and hierarchy and elitism.

No matter what you do, if you're trying to create something new, your environment has a massive impact on you.

Boho to me is a first-year student who's just discovered the tie-dye shop.

I want to make music that will make the blood surge in your veins, music that will get people up and dance.

Men behave very oddly in the company of attractive women.

Ideally, musicians belong outside the Establishment. When they cross that line, it's like something in them has died.

There's a character that I play onstage, and I can't let him loose in the supermarket when I'm buying my beans on toast.

Why play a chord when you can play one note?

I really want it to have an impact on the world. I want to be in a town on the other side of the world, and somebody walks up and says, 'That music you made in Glasgow, I listened to it every day, and it moved me.'

Arty. To me the word's got as much venom associated with it as 'wacky'.

I'm not a food critic, and I'm not really an authority to write anything on food.

If success had come along when I was 17 it would either have killed me or sent me completely mad.

Glasgow's not a media center. When you're there, when you're hanging about, you feel quite detached from musical movements or fashions or anything like that. You do feel quite alone, in a good way.

It's very rare that a song falls from your mind complete.

You're letting such a fragile side of yourself out when you're creating or writing music. To do that with people who are almost strangers would seem very strange to me. I think that we're very lucky that we're quite close. To us, it's almost like the band is the grandest possible adventure you can go on with your friends. It's really really exciting.

There are loads of bands I'd love to produce.

It's easy to be lazy when there's food lying around backstage or there's a fast-food joint a couple blocks away. But if you walk a little further, ask around a bit, of course there are exciting things to discover.

I think a lot of bands are creatively knackered when they come off tour.

If I was a fan of someone as a teenager, then it's OK for me to feel completely in awe when I meet them.

Ambition is sneered at by some bands. It seems like a pretty good thing to me.

You can only begin to be great when you embrace a sense of your own ridiculousness.

There's a difference between expectations and aspirations.

Cinema, which is influenced by every single part of life, is direct and reaches you immediately. And writing - the best writing is complex ideas communicated concisely. And music - if it's a good tune, make sure people can bloody hear it.