Russell Mael

“Rollercoaster' is probably something we should have said no to!”

“With 'A Steady Drip, Drip Drip,' some of the subjects that are written about on the album have come to be even more prescient in a certain way than we had hoped for when they were written.”

“We always say that we try not to look back when we're starting on a new project, so I think things like 'Past Tense' are nice.”

“We had the project 'The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman' that we had done for the Swedish National Radio as a radio music drama. After we had done that, we thought it was really something worth pursuing as a movie project as well, so we went there to try to get meetings regarding that.”

“Our goal is always to do something fresh within the confines of what pop music is and to keep challenging ourselves and our audience.”

“Having an image was really important to us and that was kind of contrary to the bands in L.A. that we had grown up with: you know, the Laurel Canyon kind of scene, the Joni Mitchells.”

“I like when somebody is able to create their own universe, have a consistency to it and not break from character - that's something that's always been important to Sparks.”

“I sing and Ron doesn't want to be the singer of the band, he's the keyboard player and predominant writer of the band. There's not an ego thing about one getting more of the limelight. We both have just a really common vision about what Sparks is and should be.”

“I really take pleasure and pride in singing the way people expect me to.”

“I think we've always been a bit delusional and at the start we really did feel we were a cool, British-style band, but it was apparently not connecting in that way, and was always seen as something more esoteric and odd. But then in failing to emulate British bands, a style emerged that became what we are.”

“When you're a fan of somebody you want to be a fan in all sorts of ways.”

“With say The Rolling Stones you can do anything in their position so we are surprised that you always know what to expect with them.”

“A lot of times people ask about Sparks songs: are they autobiographical in a way? And we don't think so much that they are; it's more a case of coming up with these little stories.”

“We had a miniature ocean liner made out of papier-mache, and I'd burst out of it wearing a sailor suit to begin our show. People didn't know what to make of us.”

“We've always believed action speaks louder than words. I think that's helped maintain a certain aura about Sparks. People only really know us through our music.”

“In one way, we think it's kind of an amazing achievement what we've done. At the same time, we'd like 6 million more people to know about what we're doing.”

“There are exceptions, obviously, but you wish there was more that made you go, 'God, I wish we'd come up with that!' In a positive way.”

“If Andy Warhol asks if he can take your photo, you say yeah!”

“People have always commented along the way that, 'You guys are always so visual in what you do.' The songs have always had a lot of visual imagery in them that's not necessarily orthodox subject matter or themes or the way those themes are treated are kind of unorthodox. They could be taken as little mini films without the visuals.”

“We had always been huge Anglophiles.”