Curt Smith

“Our own lives always influence the way we write.”

“We just weren't a hip band. I mean we recorded our second album in Bath at a time when everyone else was recording in New York or Los Angeles.”

“We're both getting older, our children are starting to leave home. But I can say that I'm just as passionate a songwriter now in my 50s as I was in my 20s. But instead of talking about the general kind of angst that I felt as a teenager, I'm writing about more specific issues.”

“We really hated being in a band. The joy for us and why we slipped nicely and neatly into it was because we didn't need a band anymore. We became a duo because of technology.”

“I have no preconceived ideas; I gave that up a long time ago... The only thing we can do as musicians is make an album we like, and an album that we consider to be incredibly good.”

“Having lawyers involved never leads to good things.”

“We've been playing together since we were 13, and from the age of 18, we've had a record contract. I think that we've been incredibly lucky, yeah. But we deserve it.”

“To preserve my sanity I had to leave England and move to New York.”

“It's always good to be somewhere with some history, maybe that's England, which has a long history.”

“We know we have a method of reaching people, but we have never wanted to preach. We like to make our views palatable, music that is easy to swallow, and I think we've done that.”

“When you're writing songs for yourself, as all artists do, it's about 'me.' It's about what you feel and your emotions. You're trying to get something out of your system about your experiences.”

“My daughters prefer Tears for Fears songs as they're more upbeat and generic. Dad's songs are 'a little too sad' for them, which just means that they're harder to understand.”

“I think people forget even though we were labelled a synth band because of 'The Hurting,' but keyboards are not our native instruments. Roland's a guitar player and I'm a bass player.”

“Sometimes albums can be quick, sometimes they take forever, and we're very good at taking forever.”

“I just have to sell enough records to continue financing making more records.”

“I think parenthood does change your priorities quite drastically in an incredibly good way - most of the time.”

“Normally the amount of music we have is what you hear on the album and that's it.”

“I run every day. It keeps me sane and it's my meditation.”

“I mean the joy of doing the 'Psych' thing I have to say, is that, you know, I'd met them beforehand, James Roday and Timothy Omundson specifically. I met Dule Hill when I got up there. But they're just, you know, a nice bunch of people.”

“People don't really buy records anymore, so record companies won't invest in bands like us. They want cookie-cutter acts.”