Rostam Batmanglij

Sometimes the hangover provides inspiration.

— Rostam Batmanglij

I started playing guitar when I was 14.

— Rostam Batmanglij

What I love is the openness of collaboration.

— Rostam Batmanglij

I like there to be some secrets.

— Rostam Batmanglij

My music is about identity.

— Rostam Batmanglij

I'm very conscious of the fact that I devoted my life to recording music, recordings and writing songs.

— Rostam Batmanglij

I'm very aware of what, say, electric guitar recordings in the '60s sounded like.

— Rostam Batmanglij

Whenever I work on a project I put all of myself into it.

— Rostam Batmanglij

The thing I love about car design is that it's sculpture everybody appreciates, everybody has access to.

— Rostam Batmanglij

I took one piano lesson and hated it and then didn't take any piano lessons until I was 18.

— Rostam Batmanglij

I don't have to just have one kind of life. I can have several different creative lives.

— Rostam Batmanglij

When my mom was pregnant with me, my parents moved from France to America.

— Rostam Batmanglij

I've always had a complex relationship towards my identity as an American.

— Rostam Batmanglij

Honestly, I never felt like I wasn't an artist on my own. I always felt like the music I made was mine,…

— Rostam Batmanglij

I've had experiences where my life will try to tell me something in a dream and sometimes it's something I'm not ready…

— Rostam Batmanglij

I like the idea that a song can be about a romantic relationship, but it can also about a relationship to your…

— Rostam Batmanglij

Well, I think that I have a complicated relationship with whiteness because oftentimes, I pass as white, and I recognize that. I…

— Rostam Batmanglij

I feel like when I was in college I was listening to the Walkmen a lot and I actually have a memory…

— Rostam Batmanglij

A lot of what being a producer is, is giving people space. Like psychologically being there to help them realize what they're…

— Rostam Batmanglij

I'm trying to get to a point where I tell people, if you want to get in touch with me, please don't…

— Rostam Batmanglij

It's always my mission to try to do something that hasn't been done before, whether that's musically, lyrically or in terms of…

— Rostam Batmanglij

One of the things that we talked about was this idea of 'Memento Mori' - like the reminder of our own mortality…

— Rostam Batmanglij

Shangri-La is one of the few studios in which you can sit in the control room and open a window behind you.…

— Rostam Batmanglij

As far as the lyrics go, I think I was negotiating a moment in my life where I didn't feel happy. I…

— Rostam Batmanglij

I was lucky to have a guitar teacher who asked me what I wanted to learn. I brought in "High & Dry"…

— Rostam Batmanglij

I would say I was a little bit outgoing, a little bit shy. I was definitely much more shy than my brother.…

— Rostam Batmanglij

I had no problem working for 15 hours straight when I was producing someone else, but I couldn't do it with my…

— Rostam Batmanglij

I love working with Angel Deradoorian, she's a joy to work with. She's fab at singing and she has a real... she…

— Rostam Batmanglij

The whole point of Lady Gaga is that anyone can do it. A few years ago she was a nobody. She talks…

— Rostam Batmanglij

I guess I have some kind of a visceral connection with drums. I'm looking to create music that people can react to…

— Rostam Batmanglij

My parents left Iran in 1979 and moved to France and then moved to the U.S. My brother was born in France…

— Rostam Batmanglij

There's a bunch of rules that I want to break. I have a rule-breaking streak.

— Rostam Batmanglij

Films should involve a director's idiosyncrasies as much as possible I think.

— Rostam Batmanglij

I'd like to release solo songs on a regular basis, but it's pretty difficult for me to finish them.

— Rostam Batmanglij

Yeah, I'd always wanted to do a song with finger-picked, nylon-string guitar.

— Rostam Batmanglij

Radio or no radio, I just like the way records sound when the drums and vocals are loud.

— Rostam Batmanglij

I would hope to make a record that interacts with culture in a macro sense. That is something to aspire to.

— Rostam Batmanglij

I'm not interested in anyone who would want me for the wrong reasons.

— Rostam Batmanglij

I thought it would be interesting to play classical music on rock instruments.

— Rostam Batmanglij

When I moved to New York, I remember thinking, 'I'm never going to live anywhere else.'

— Rostam Batmanglij