Nicholas Thorburn

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I'll acknowledge that I'm from Canada but I don't think I'll acknowledge that I'm Canadian.
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: Thinking
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I don't want to over think anything because the second I do, I start to fail.
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: Thinking
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I wrote a cheesy love song - called "Tender Torture". I guess it's more of a song about being away from someone that you love. It's pretty strange. It's sincere, I guess. It's actually something that I really felt.
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: Song
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I just think if you're gonna play a show you should try and look nice.
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: Nice
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Thankfully, I'm not put in a position where I'm made to feel like I can't live my life.
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: Living My Life
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I like writing stories. That's what I like to do. That's the way I see it, but with every song I get sucked into feeling something.
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: Song
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Everybody now who's playing in Unicorn band is deeply schooled in music. I'm the only one who's self-taught, which I think is a bit hilarious because I'm leading the band and writing the songs, but I'm surrounded by such overwhelmingly competent musicians.
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: Song
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When people all wear the same thing, people notice. They aren't stupid. People don't go, "Oh, you can see right through them!"
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: Stupid
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You're forced to step into that performer role. I can't just hide behind a synthesizer forever.
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: Forever
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I've learned a lot about how to be in a band. It's like being in a marriage to these people. Because there's so many of us, there's a polygamous quality to it, which I've heard is really enjoyable.
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: People
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I can tell what inspired the songs for me, or what I was thinking and feeling at the time. But I don't want that to be the definitive meaning behind the song. I like the idea that people can interpret, even if they're way off base. I'm rambling. I'm not good at talking about my feelings.
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: Song
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"Jogging Gorgeous Summer" song was inspired by a general feeling of sunshine, feeling good, sitting in the backseat of a car and hearing a song for the first time on the radio and feeling warm. I went back to the house I grew up in, and the people let me in to walk around. I went into my sister's old bedroom, and on the window ledge there was this little handwriting from my sister, and it said, "Jogging Gorgeous Summer." I thought that was a really pretty phrase.
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: Summer
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It's always something that interests me, crafting a really perfect pop gem, but it's not a lifelong obsession. I've kind of moved beyond it. I think I needed to get that out of my system, to exorcise.
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: Thinking
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You know what I think the guy who reviewed the live show for Pitchfork suffers from? Shy/asshole confusion. I'm not an asshole. I don't think I have to prove that to anyone, but I'm just putting that out there. I just think people should know that I'm not trying too hard. I think some people are just bitter that they ended up reviewing the show rather than playing the show, perhaps.
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: Thinking
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It is a game you have to play. You have to tour your ass off. It's just always "where am I now" versus "where could I be?" It's constant competition with yourself. But I'm up for it.
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: Competition
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I really do just try to tune as much out as I can and make things that I think just sound good to me.
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: Thinking
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I've always got songs ready to go. It's not a challenge to conjure anything, it's just whether the music I supply is desirable.
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: Song
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I operate in such a vacuum. I write by myself, it's a very solitary experience, and I'm not used to, I've never had a label or anyone to say, "We wanna hear a single, we gotta come back and retool some of these songs until they're more catchy."
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: Song
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I'm totally open to outside opinions and criticism.
- Nicholas Thorburn
Collection: Criticism