Swans are majestic, beautiful looking creatures. With really ugly temperaments. — Michael Gira Beautiful Copy Share Image
I'm a producer in the old-school way - not just some slacker working on Pro Tools. — Michael Gira Old school Copy Share Image
I like loud electric guitars because I like how you can just lose your entire being in the sound. — Michael Gira Electric Copy Share Image
I have my own record company. I have to answer to God, basically. I'm not young, so I want to make the… — Michael Gira Answers Copy Share Image
I never wrote poetry, just prose. I don't really consider songwriting a form of poetry either. The words are important, of course,… — Michael Gira Courses Copy Share Image
The sexuality of children - there's a lot friction there. That tension interests me a lot. — Michael Gira Children Copy Share Image
You find ways to push yourself into the sound through repetition. It doesn't stay the same. It morphs constantly. — Michael Gira Push yourself Copy Share Image
The music takes you. It has to be alive. It's like you hammer something, and the way it happens to bleed leads… — Michael Gira Alive Copy Share Image
As far as playing playing festivals and everything, I feel like that's what I was born to do. I'm an entertainer, hopefully… — Michael Gira Born Copy Share Image
I used to routinely break my ribs doing stupid things onstage, but I have a healthy fear of breaking my bones now. — Michael Gira Bones Copy Share Image
I got involved, for the most part, in the actual song construction, lyrics even. I didn't want to write the lyrics, but… — Michael Gira Construction Copy Share Image
When I walk around New York now, there are so many ghosts. I find it very uncomfortable. There were many hard years,… — Michael Gira Associates Copy Share Image
I'm the band leader. That's not to say that the other people are my minions - they all put in a tremendous… — Michael Gira Amount Copy Share Image
I could never release something on the label I didn't personally love. The label's really an extension of my own musical career,… — Michael Gira Aspect Copy Share Image
I'm just as comfortable performing solo with just my acoustic guitar and vocal as I am with a band. The main thing… — Michael Gira Acoustic guitar Copy Share Image
I'm more interested in pulling out strands of joy from both myself and the audience. I'm not saying the music or songs… — Michael Gira Audience Copy Share Image
I wanted to challenge myself and move into something new. I felt that using the name Swans and the sonic attitude that… — Michael Gira Attitude Copy Share Image
When I drink a Glass of water, it's thick and crawling with life. My mouth leads to the interior of my body… — Michael Gira Biology Copy Share Image
“I never could read Foucault. I find philosophy tedious. All of my knowledge comes from reading novels and some history. I read… — Michael Gira Absolutely nothing Copy Share Image
“An oiled young stud does sit-ups on his Soloflex machine, eviscerates himself with an impossibly honed and gleaming kitchen knife, flings his… — Michael Gira Children Copy Share Image
I like loud electric guitars because I like how you can just lose your entire being in the sound. But I can't… — Michael Gira Chords Copy Share Image
“I like Sade. I’m re-reading Juliette. I skip the philosophy and read the salacious bits. His descriptive imagination is incredible.” — Michael Gira Philosophy Copy Share Image
I don't throw my body down on the stage at all anymore because I'm sure I'd snap like a twig. — Michael Gira Body Copy Share Image
Making those CDs, signing them, numbering them, packing them. It takes hundreds of hours, but it's worth it because I'm able to… — Michael Gira Able Copy Share Image
I'm pretty confident that people are going to come along for the ride. If they don't, tough. — Michael Gira Along for the ride Copy Share Image
It's good that people come to the shows because there's nothing fashionable about Swans. Never has been, really. We've never been part… — Michael Gira Fashionable Copy Share Image
Many of the songs were written as a way of paying tribute to specific people, but in the end the songs took… — Michael Gira Accuracy Copy Share Image
At a certain age, children are total Id - they're anything but beautiful little flowers. That always interests me. The place where… — Michael Gira Age Copy Share Image
Playing an old record doesn't interest me at all. It's exactly the opposite of what I want to do. — Michael Gira Interest Copy Share Image
Maybe in the future I'll put out someone's one-off project, but generally I don't have time. — Michael Gira Maybe Copy Share Image
I really wanted to get to the animal core of rock music and eliminate anything that wasn't necessary. — Michael Gira Animal Copy Share Image
You make your work and you can't ask for approval when you're doing it. Otherwise, it's going to be untruthful in some… — Michael Gira Approval Copy Share Image
It wouldn't interest me to try to sound like Cop or something. It would be silly and soul-crushing. — Michael Gira Being silly Copy Share Image
The goal is ecstasy, but I don't want to make some sort of saccharine pop music. I want to make something that's… — Michael Gira Ecstasy Copy Share Image
“It was a kind of sado-masochism. I would take the things that were painful to me and elevate them and, through the… — Michael Gira Mantra Copy Share Image
Nina Simone was an entertainer. Bob Dylan was an entertainer. Anyone that can occupy a piece of music and make the air… — Michael Gira Air Copy Share Image
I went to art school and never thought I'd be a musician, but then punk rock came along in the late 70s… — Michael Gira Art Copy Share Image
I am definitely less and less interested in music made by people that exist today, people that are living. I just see… — Michael Gira Business Copy Share Image
