Jack Antonoff
When you go all over the world for work, your dream vacation is your bedroom.Collection: Work
Black and white creates a strange dreamscape that color never can.
I'm not super into sports.
I've worked so hard for so long, and everyone's reaction has made me feel like... almost like they trust me, which is just a wonderful feeling. It pushes me to write things better and better.
That's what is incredible about human beings, is the choice to keep going.
Bleachers comes from a different place. It's personal. It's just me putting myself out there as myself. It's very intense.
I have my cousin's jacket from when he was at war in Iraq. He never came home. It's incredible to have something that is so personal but that I also feel relatively comfortable wearing.
I don't really love roller coasters because I feel like they're filled with germs and make me nauseous.
Anyone who is awake and aware knows that these quote-unquote bathroom bills or any legislation discriminating against LGBTQ citizens is horrible.
I think men are, like, repulsive, and I prefer being in a room with women. I think they're often just more interesting.
My grandparents got out of Poland right before the Holocaust and came here, and the only thing that mattered was surviving.
You can be a man who loves a woman but love someone the way a gay man loves another man or a woman loves a woman.
People identify with other people for different reasons, and I personally am really comfortable around lesbians because, in some ways, we view women the same way.
My parents had a house on the Jersey shore - I grew up right there, going down there every summer and living there. It is home for me.
The heart and soul of pop is newness, excitement, innovation.
I grew up on Raffi. That was my first impression of what a rock star was.
I loved Interpol when they came out, but I never wanted to be in Interpol.
The first time I ever got paid to play was 1/18/99, Fire Hall in Bordentown, New Jersey. Played first on the bill - we got paid $20!
My father played guitar, so I always wanted to play for that reason. But I think the biggest reason was just the '90s in general - growing up listening to the Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day and bands like that, and going to concerts and thinking it was the coolest thing in the world.
The only people playing the roles of classic rock stars are hip-hop artists, now. Kanye's stage persona, and the way he approaches making albums, and the way he wants to be better than everyone else? That's reminiscent of Freddie Mercury. That's reminiscent of the Beatles.
What sets 'Some Nights' apart from anything we've ever done is the hip-hop influence. Not so much the actual sound of hip-hop, but more the vibrato and the artistry that comes with it. Right now, the artists that seem to be pushing to be the greatest artists and are trying to change the world are hip-hop artists.
'Glee' is one of the very few mainstream outlets that is giving a voice to communities of people that don't necessarily have a loud voice, specifically the gay community. It gives a really positive and forward statement.
I think that everyone at any age should ask themselves, 'where do I want to be today, where do I want to be tomorrow, and where do I want to be in a hundred years?' We all have clear answers to those questions. We only have so much time. It's a real shame if we don't spend our lives trying to do that.
So many boys and girls talk the same way, listen to the same music, look the same. If I'm out, I'll notice the person who looks different before I notice the person who's, 'really hot.'
Social paralysis is strong and stands firmly in the way of change on the ground level. As allies, we have to prepare ourselves to step into the fire when necessary, even - and especially - when said fire is merely a still-lit cigarette tossed carelessly onto the street.
Of course, the majority of us would speak up in the face of outrageous bigotry, but do we speak up in a social situation when someone casually refers to something as 'gay'? If we don't, we are standing with the homophobes whom we are quietly fighting.
As straight Americans we have two choices: we can choose to sit back and enjoy our rights as we have them, or we can realize that it is actually not freedom at all when our friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues do not share these basic rights.
I never understood the idea of canceling a show when you don't like the politics of a specific state.
I've ended up on some website list or some other list for super right-wing people. They've been tweeting some pretty rude stuff at me, so I think there's a sect of America out there that doesn't like certain opinions and can really take their claws out when they don't like what you're saying.
I think it's all about making records when you're inspired to make them.
I think it's nice to do work that is vaguely compromising to your health because it means you really care about it.
It really is true that when an issue becomes pop culture, it changes faster, and it's really great for the issue.
The way that people have gotten on board with me is the most encouraging thing in the world, but it's all very connected to the 14 years I've been on tour with Steel Train, even my band before that, Outline, and then fun. and now Bleachers.
When I started playing in bands, we had to be apologetic for what we did. We had to be apologetic because the mainstream was so bad.
I want to be able to do work where I think it's very forward, but I also want it to exist in a big way and have an effect on a lot of people.
I think that some of the most amazing places to be or to grow up are the places right outside of great cities, because you're sort of constantly in this suspended state of, like, looking inside the window, wanting to be in the party. I think it breeds good feelings.
The connection I make with being young and growing up is, like, the feeling of not being crushed by the world. Having an idea, thinking you can do it.
There's nothing more adult than being ripped away from friends and family, you know? Having to manage a life when you're not fully there, manage a life when you don't make a lot of money. It's very adult.
When you're in a band, it's like everyone's the CEO, and anyone could destroy it at any moment.
I could probably name thousands of albums that I want.
To grow up five miles outside of the greatest city in the world is a bizarre experience.
When I was growing up, it was a lot of punk and hardcore music going on in legion halls and firehouses, and we'd play those shows, and it was very Jersey. It was very suburban, and there's just a great pride there.
I started buying vinyl records when I got into punk music because, in the punk scene in New Jersey, vinyl was more like a necessity than a luxury.
It just seems like the most fun thing in the world. I've never met people who have kids who haven't looked me in the eye and been like, 'It's the greatest thing that's ever happened.'
I'm 30. I'm not that young, right? I'm not, like, 24 or 22. I'm no longer in the phase of my life where I talk about everything as in the future. Like, I'm in the future.
If you're in a conversation with me, the last thing I'll probably say when I'm walking away is, 'Thank you and sorry.'
Sometimes it's really quick, and sometimes it's really long. There's no formula for writing songs.
There was this darkness about being from New Jersey.
In this business, it's important to constantly do things that you don't know how to do. I love touring and making records, but I've learned how to do that, so sometimes you just have to dive in and try it.
I've gone down to the Jersey Shore every summer since I was born. It's like a second home, and Asbury Park is like the capital - it's the center of all of it. Musically, it's incredible.