Quotes from Samuel Ervin Beam

I like ones that pertain to the music they make. Talking Heads does that somehow. More often than not band names are just a quirky joke that doesn't really stay funny for very long. It's like Homer Simpson's barbershop quartet, the Be Sharps. At first you're like, 'That's funny!' Then you're like, 'It's not that funny.'

I was just writing songs in my spare time, and recording because it's fun to do, and Sub Pop called me and said they wanted to put some stuff out. I had to weigh whether I wanted to put the time into it because it's a commitment. But, in the end, it seemed too good to pass up.

My day-to-day existence is, honestly, a little boring.

Every musician that comes along teaches me something.

I have a certain amount of creative energy, and it used to go painting. Now most of it goes to music. I like to make things. I treat the songs more like poems than prose, so in that sense, I don't really have a point to make. I just try to be surprised.

What's fascinating about facial hair? It's more fascinating that people shave it off every day.

You can sand something forever. You can keep working on it. All the arts are like that: there's no magical finish line. You get sick of working on it or you walk away.

The things that have been most popular with people have always been a total surprise, and so I've never felt like I could really truthfully predict public taste, so why bother?

I was drawn to painting and filmmaking because I was interested in communicating visually, which spills over into my tendencies as a writer.

I'm very flattered the press wants to write about me.

I was born in 1974, so I grew up listening to what was on the radio - my mom's car sounded like Fleetwood Mac, because that was what was on the radio.

I like Wallace Stevens, Robert Frost, but some of the older ones it's hard for me to sit down with - when I sit down to read some poetry, I usually read more contemporary stuff.

I recognized that a lot in my writing I'm trying to show both sides of the coin - the sour and sweet. Iron & Wine seemed to fit with that duality and I thought it would be more interesting to call the project that rather than use Sam Beam.

Back in '98 or so when I was in film school I was working on lighting for a movie in Georgia, out in the middle of nowhere at a gas station. Inside the gas station they had a bunch of old home remedies like castor oil, and one of them was a protein supplement called Beef, Iron & Wine. I just dropped the Beef part.

People always say, 'Why don't you play more sets in Texas?' and I say, 'Dude, why don't you come babysit?'

My wife is a midwife, and there's only so many states where you can do that. Texas is a place where she can work.

I don't necessarily enjoy playing concerts, although that has gotten more fun with a band. But the one thing I always have enjoyed is making records and being in that creative environment. And that has become a lot more enjoyable having other people involved.

When I put out a record I don't really like to do covers as much, but I don't mind playing them. I do them mostly for my friends. When a friend's like, 'Man I really like that song,' I go 'hahaha' and I go home and I record it.

Anything to shake you out of the normal habits is good.

Anytime you go back and listen to old material, there's always the threat of being surprised.

It's a funny thing having a recording be part of your career. It means you can go back and revisit yourself, in a way most people don't.

I find making records by myself incredibly boring.

I have a hard time saying I'm going to make a whole record of just rock-out songs, because that gets boring, you know? And my voice doesn't scream very well.

Love songs are helpful. We've always needed as much love as we could possibly need.