Andrew Bird Play Quotations

The first notes I still play when I start a sound check are classical. Those are my roots.

All the folks I play with come from jazz backgrounds or at least appreciate spontaneity within the parameters of a pop song.

Well, my main instrument is violin, but I think of myself as a songwriter who happens to play violin.

The instrumental record is a bit subtler. It's the kind of stuff on sound check, when I first pick up my violin and start to play, the kind of melodies that just pour out of me. Some of them sound very classical. Some of them sound experimental, polyrhythmic loops that I make.

I definitely have to give myself permission, like on "Master Swarm," to rip a lead on that. Just play a violin solo that's - it's a bit showoff-y, but it's fun, so who cares?

I don't like to disappear between records. I like to play shows while I'm making the record.

I've never approached classical music in a formal way, ever. I couldn't read very well. I'd have to play every piece and internalize it, almost as if I had written it myself.

I still play solo shows. And some of those shows are still some of the best, most gratifying shows.