Bryce Dessner

Art is a way of life.

— Bryce Dessner

Musicians are hungry for new music.

— Bryce Dessner

Nobody plans on playing their own songs in front of thousands of people.

— Bryce Dessner

It's not a hard sell to be asked to do something in Ireland.

— Bryce Dessner

In terms of identity, I'm the same person no matter what I'm doing.

— Bryce Dessner

If you make rock music with guitars in it, the Radiohead comparison is inevitable.

— Bryce Dessner

I like to write on tour busses and airplanes. Something about moving.

— Bryce Dessner

As long as I'm still growing as a musician, it keeps me inspired.

— Bryce Dessner

My main professional experience is touring in a rock band.

— Bryce Dessner

As much as you try to organize your life, life will surprise you.

— Bryce Dessner

American politics are important because it affects the entire world in often negative ways.

— Bryce Dessner

I'm not trying to take over the world, but I find it really rewarding to write, and I thrive on learning.

— Bryce Dessner

It doesn't necessarily take four years to write a good piece of music. It might take four hours. It just depends on…

— Bryce Dessner

Early on, I was a performer playing classical music. It's in my DNA in a way that I can't begin to extract…

— Bryce Dessner

I think that becoming a successful rock band is a little like becoming a professional athlete. Nobody plans on it.

— Bryce Dessner

With 'Boxer,' we made the kind of music we wanted to make and didn't really worry about what the expectation was.

— Bryce Dessner

I can imagine myself as an old man writing music for choir or orchestra. I don't know that I'll be touring six…

— Bryce Dessner

If you learn classical guitar, you play Bach, and then John Dowland. He's the greatest. He's interesting for many, many reasons.

— Bryce Dessner

We all contribute to The National, and it's like a familiar family. Matt is dad, Brian's like the dark horse uncle, Scott's…

— Bryce Dessner

For many people in the music conservatory world, the message was always, Focus! 'You can't do everything; you really need to specialize.'…

— Bryce Dessner

When we learned to play in bands, what we were covering was equal part the Velvet Underground and the Grateful Dead. That…

— Bryce Dessner

Obviously, any living musician born after 1960 has been touched by rock and roll. It's the music of our time, and it's…

— Bryce Dessner

There are famous examples of people who just had really strange ways - [Jimi] Hendrix being the biggest example of that. Or…

— Bryce Dessner

For years The National has been labeled as a gloomy kind of rock bandI think mostly because of Matt’s deep baritone voice,…

— Bryce Dessner

Me, who's educated classically, I went toward rock music 'cause it was sort of a natural evolution from where I was playing…

— Bryce Dessner

Most of my favourite guitarists are self-taught, because in a way there's less of a reverence for the instrument itself, so you…

— Bryce Dessner

David Harrington asked me to write a piece for Kronos Quartet for a performance in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. I live just two…

— Bryce Dessner

I call The National my family, and I'll be doing that as long as I want to.

— Bryce Dessner

You don't come to our shows if you want to look cool.

— Bryce Dessner

Working with Bob Weir directly, we learned how high the bar is for Dead music.

— Bryce Dessner

A great painting is something that you can come back to again and again.

— Bryce Dessner

We've played in places where there were more of us onstage than in the audience.

— Bryce Dessner

I like to think of myself as a musical scavenger.

— Bryce Dessner

I don't labour over my lead guitar solos; they're better just caught in the moment.

— Bryce Dessner

We always say that National songs have to have a heart, that we don't make cold songs.

— Bryce Dessner

Part of what I enjoy about writing classical music is communicating through the score and collaborating with such amazing musicians.

— Bryce Dessner

There are all kind of corners of the musical world that are deeply influenced by the Dead that one wouldn't expect. Lee…

— Bryce Dessner

My grandmother was born in Russia, and she came through Poland on her way to America in the early 20s. She moved…

— Bryce Dessner

Bands like Arcade Fire finding a larger audience has opened a lot of doors. They've empowered a whole community in Montreal.

— Bryce Dessner

We've gotten better as a live band. The songs have been allowed to grow with our audience. I don't think I would…

— Bryce Dessner