Quotes from Eliot Sumner

I can only be myself, and if I have to suffer for that, that's okay, because to pretend to be somebody else - I tried that, it's terrible.

I sometimes suffer from insomnia, and one of the first times it ever happened, I was like, 'I don't know what to do with myself,' so I started writing a song, and by morning, it was finished. It was about how I couldn't sleep... I was 14.

I only wear black. I think it suits me.

I like to move around. It suits me. I grew up in Wiltshire on a farm, and that's the only place I call home.

I picked up the guitar when I was 4, and from then, I could never be bored.

I think I have a lot of energy, and most of it is quite aggressive energy. But in a positive way, I think. It's like a positive aggression.

I think, forever, I was trying to figure out maybe... what I am. But I don't think anyone should feel pressured to have any kind of label or tag on them. We should treat everybody the same... Me, I don't like to be put down to a specific thing. We're all human beings.

In 2009, I fractured my skull in a freak accident at an L.A. restaurant. I suffered a seizure and was rushed into hospital. I was so out of it that I refused to let them scan my brain. My dad rushed to my bedside and talked me into having the CAT scan - he told me that I might die if I didn't go through with it.

I don't particularly like attention. I like to do things on my own. I like to dress myself. People always ask that at shoots: 'Do you want any help?' That's the weirdest question.

My French is terrible, and my Spanish is even worse. I find Spanish really difficult. They speak so quickly, whereas in German, it's very clear what they're saying. It's easier to repeat.

I think everyone's got an obstacle in their career that they have to challenge. I think, in a way, that pushes you to prove who you are.

I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to music. I like studio gear. I'm always looking it up on eBay and seeing what I can afford.

I didn't come out as gay; I came out as I don't really believe in gender.

It's difficult to explain exactly how I react to music, but if it makes me feel anything at all, then I'll have some kind of emotional relationship to it. That's what defines good music to me - if it makes me truly feel something.

On my fourth or fifth birthday, a guitar was given to me, and I made a new friend. A very loud friend.

I was very young when I did 'I Blame Coco,' and I never really recognized that sound as me.

People always have to have a reference - I think I'll always be in the shadow of my parents.

Self-sufficiency is vitally important to my self-respect. I never wanted to rely on my parents in that way, because I knew that if I got used to it, I'd be reliant all my life.

Music is about self-expression and representing the times, and I think fashion is the same. It took me a long time to find my own style, both in terms of fashion and music.

I would make documentaries if it was a worthy cause. I have a lot of respect for people who put themselves in harm's way to make people see that something needs to be done.

I write most of my stuff when I'm on a train or a plane, any mode of transport. I like trains because you hear this motoric rhythm and the scenery is great. You go into your own little world. You don't have to be anywhere else.

For me, Paul Simon has always been an incredible songwriter, as he writes very complicated songs that sound very simple, and he makes it look so easy when it's not.

I'm very shy and awkward; I can't have a normal conversation, and then people think I'm being a bit rude, but really I'm not.

I started listening to a lot of Jimi Hendrix and Neil Young when I was 8 or 9 years old - I had siblings that gave me good music instead of the crap that was on the radio in the '90s.