Mark Foster

“I started out with piano when I was little. That, for songwriting, is my favorite instrument.”

“I write in character a lot.”

“We're not the corporation of Foster the People. We're a band.”

“Art brings to life things that can seemingly be dead, and can put a fresh perspective on things that are living. It's so important we keep creating.”

“Writing for other people is easier than writing for myself - it's not as personal.”

“When I put Foster The People together, I just wanted to play music with friends.”

“'Torches' flowed together with interesting intros and outros. It was all very natural.”

“I didn't want to be a soul singer.”

“One thing about Foster the People is that it's taking pieces of a lot of different genres of music and kind of melding them together.”

“Music is the great equalizer.”

“Once I write something, I never try to write that same style again, because I get very schizophrenic musically.”

“There's a lot of bands that blow up quickly, but then they die quickly. Longevity is the healthy thing; that's the pursuit.”

“I like to write about real-life topics, and I like to write about different walks of life.”

“There are a few songwriters in bands I really relate to that write a certain type of joy, because a lot of artists don't really write joy. It's a thing only a few people do.”

“I love to honour people and to write positive songs about them.”

“There are career waiters in Los Angeles, and they're making over $100,000 a year.”

“I wrote 'Don't Stop' just like I wrote 'Pumped Up Kicks' - I didn't try to make either a hit. I just wanted to write a song I liked.”

“That's how life is: there are peaks and valleys in life, and that's how I like to write songs.”

“The jingles saved my life. When I got hired to do that, I was on top. I finally was making a living doing what I loved. Before that, it was so bleak; it got so dark in L.A. I was 25, been living there for seven years trying to make it, and getting really close to getting signed with different bands and as a solo artist only to have my hopes dashed.”

“I love exploring music.”