Quotes from Mark Foster

When I'm writing songs, my favourite thing to do is to try and rabbit-trail and go places I've never gone to before. Just like exploring a new terrain or a new country or something.

There were times when I was terrified to go to school because it felt like a jail sentence.

I wrote 'Don't Stop' just like I wrote 'Pumped Up Kicks' - I didn't try to make either a hit. I just wanted to write a song I liked.

I've written so many songs that are hopeful - songs that are, like, about an old man that gives all his possessions away because he wants to help people. I wrote 'Pumped Up Kicks' just to tell a different type of story.

I didn't record 'Pumped Up Kicks' out of a sense of moral obligation.

The phrase 'pumped up kicks,' man, I was excited when I came up with that.

If I'm with people who are really positive and go with the flow, that's when the best ideas come out for me.

We're not the corporation of Foster the People. We're a band.

Foster the People wouldn't exist without Mophonics.

I had really bad grades in high school and didn't want to go to college, and my dad said, 'Why don't you move to L.A. or New York and pursue music? You've always been good at it.' It was the first thing that made sense to me and... It was the right move.

I realized probably when I was, like, 20 years old that the hardest thing to do is to write a pop song - not, like, a candy-pop, throwaway pop song.

I'm a really extreme person, and balance is probably the hardest thing for me to maintain.

I think artists throughout the history of time have always been controversial and have been a voice to speak to public culture in a way that a politician can't because they'll lose their constituency.

'Supermodel' was a hard record for me; it was an emotional record to write. I was purging a lot of stuff with that album, and I think the one thing I didn't really consider, that I'd be supporting it for two years and living in that state of mind every night.

There's a lot of bands that blow up quickly, but then they die quickly. Longevity is the healthy thing; that's the pursuit.

When I started really playing music, I pretty much quit sports. I quit everything.

My aunts and uncles were like, 'You've got such a great voice - why don't you try out for 'American Idol?'' I'd say, 'Because I'm a songwriter, not a puppet.' Even if I won and became really successful off a show like that, I'd be miserable.

Busy work often looks more like work than real work does

'Torches' opened a lot of doors. Ultimately, it turned into an experience to be reckoned with.

I'm really into the recycling of art. That one piece of art inspires another piece of art, which inspires another piece of art. I really like that idea.

I love countermelodies, I love hooks and melodies that stick in your head. If I could put 20 melodies in a song and they would all work together, I would.

I worked odd jobs delivering pizza, folding chairs, telemarketing, selling kitchen cutlery door to door.

I think my inner child wants to take over the world.

A timeless pop song is the hardest thing to do as a songwriter.