Frankie Cosmos

The first music-learning thing that I took seriously was piano lessons when I was a kid. I guess that was probably the only time that I was forced to perform music, because I had piano recitals, and my school also had mandatory music classes that had some performing required. ”

If I had to pick an artist that I look up to and am inspired by, it's Matisse because of how many times he would paint the same idea until he felt like he maybe got it right, and I try to do the same thing with my writing. ”

There've been times on tour when people have said to us, 'Yeah, your band is really simple.' But it's really not. ”

It's even easier to write about the past now that I'm happy and have better stuff to write about. That's why someone like Bob Dylan can make so many records over so long a time; it's not like he's been sad all this time. He's really successful! ”

What I really care about is writing... Some people feel about touring the way I feel about writing, which is, 'Whoa, I can't believe I get to do this as a job.' ”

I've played Frankie Cosmos shows where the promoter or whoever sees that I'm the lead singer, and then they go up to David, the bassist, and are like, 'So, do we pay you?' And he's like, 'No, you pay her; she's the boss.' Those are moments where I'm just like, 'I'm clearly in charge.' ”

It was a really long process, dropping out of college. I was there for a semester, then I would take a semester off and go on tour, then I would go back for a semester. ”

I was seeing kids my age playing shows at their parents' houses or the couple of all-ages venues that existed. I feel like I saw so many different kinds of music that I wouldn't have discovered on my own. ”

The way my body is viewed in the world is different than a male body. People are going to write about the performance, but they're probably also going to be writing about what I was wearing or my hair, which just doesn't happen to men. ”

One of the cool things about traveling and being a musician is that you meet so many people who have studied different things and have different careers. ”