Mark Foster

“I've played so many gigs in front of around seven people. It's difficult to keep motivated, but it's all about growth. The love of music kept me going.”

“We need to do a better job of loving each other beyond race, beyond belief, beyond our difference.”

“'Torches' opened a lot of doors. Ultimately, it turned into an experience to be reckoned with.”

“I didn't record 'Pumped Up Kicks' out of a sense of moral obligation.”

“I was afraid of the sophomore slump even before our first record came out. It was a very real fear because I'd watched so many bands I'd loved in the past not deliver. I knew it was a very real thing. I didn't know why it happens, but I'd been thinking about it a lot.”

“Every single song on 'Torches' was a little self-contained pop song, so there wasn't any fat on the songs; there wasn't a lot to cut.”

“During 'Torches,' I was more concerned with communicating the spirit of the song than the actual lyrics.”

“It's funny: the one time I got star-struck was when I met Snoop Dogg. I gave him a hug and said, 'I love you, man.'”

“I remember, in middle school, I went to four different schools. That was a rough patch. But it's also what shaped me as a person.”

“Culturally, it's really funny to me that people respect the weird guy as an artist. There can be a curmudgeon in the corner with spiders building nests in his hair, and he hasn't bathed for three weeks, but for whatever reason, he's more creative than the guy sitting next to him that's showered and is talking to everybody.”

“Art is observing society around you, representing it through your eyes.”

“I experienced bullying a lot. I was an only child, and I was kind of a small kid with a big mouth, and so I always got myself in trouble.”

“'I Get Around' came on one day. I'd never heard the Beach Boys before. The sound was so fresh to me. That was the first time when I truly was gripped by the power of music. It opened my eyes to the heights that music can achieve.”

“L.A. gives me a lot. L.A. is a city of extremes. People come here from all over the world that have these, like, giant ideas, and they put everything into it. And some people just fall flat on their face, and some people, you know, shoot like a rocket.”

“At the end of the day, I use music to be able to communicate to people.”

“I think artists throughout the history of time have always been controversial and have been a voice to speak to public culture in a way that a politician can't because they'll lose their constituency.”

“A timeless pop song is the hardest thing to do as a songwriter.”

“I worked odd jobs delivering pizza, folding chairs, telemarketing, selling kitchen cutlery door to door.”

“There's just really interesting facets of culture just swirling in Morocco. They all have slightly different colours, so it's just an inspiring place to be.”

“I want to make music for everyone. I'm not trying to start a super exclusive group. I don't want a clique of people where you have to wear a certain type of clothes to come to our shows, or you have to be the ages of this and this.”