A biography for Phil Elverumhasn’t been written yet.
“I need some time to write songs and work on my thing, but I'm just living my life and doing family stuff and letting inspiration come when it comes. But I also don't feel a desperate need to keep pushing myself into people's faces to stay cool and relevant.”
“I am not satisfied with the ending of 'Mount Eerie' the album, so maybe by calling myself that, I am attempting to elaborate on the ending.”
“The Beach Boys were my favorite. I use to listen to their hits over and over, especially 'In My Room' and 'Don't Worry Baby.' There's something really sad about 'Don't Worry Baby.' Even though it's just a California song about racing cars, the melody is really sad. There's melancholy in it.”
“I just can't turn off the part me that asks that question over and over.”
“In the early '50s, my great-grandmother and grandfather raised a baby gorilla named Bobo who wore clothes and played with the neighborhood kids.”
“It would be amazing to write a song that could be sung 100 years from now by a teenage girl and still be relevant to her - that's a dream of songwriting, maybe.”
“Nirvana was happening when I was 14, kind of the perfect age. Growing up in Anacortes, Washington, it was close enough to Seattle that it seemed like a local thing.”
“It feels weird to play songs that I don't really... feel any more.”
“I'm not a perfectionist. I don't have enough patience to go over the same details over and over trying to get it perfect.”
“I like the experience being in the audience and being overwhelmed by sound, like thick, oppressive loud sound and distortion.”
“It's really hard just making dinner as a single parent, but I'm figuring it out. I just have to be more focused and efficient with my little scraps of time that I do have.”
“I listen to all kinds of music and sometimes I try to do something that's referential to an era or a genre, but it still sounds like me.”
“I do like playing music with other people.”
“Usually I work at the merch table until one minute before I have to go on stage.”
“Every tour is different. Sometimes I'll get a band together and sometimes it's just me.”
“Being a musician means I am 'hanging out' a lot, like driving on tour or being at a show or whatever, so maybe there's more time to interact with peers and develop jokes.”
“I am drawn to cold, desolate places rather than Hawaii. I actually love Hawaii too, but I tend to go to Iceland or Norway or Northern Japan - northern places for whatever reason. Which aren't necessarily the best places to tour.”
“I think I'm obsessed with accessibility which is why, when I'm touring, I want to play all ages shows.”
“It's nice to have a band that can adapt to whatever show we're in, so we can play on a big stage or a house show.”
“I consume the news daily. I'm not avoiding it.”