83 Quotes by Ed Kowalczyk

Live has come to a point where we're finally comfortable with being a big rock band and dealing with the absolute change of circumstance we went through during the last five to 10 years, ... We don't have to lash out against it anymore.

I was going for a kind of Zen effect, ... This record is about us going back to our element. The urgency and intensity of this album is like our first record. And the title started to mean that, yeah, we've been through a lot, and this album is coming out after we've been doing this for 10 years. It feels new and right and happy again.

We haven't recorded that quickly since Throwing Copper. When we got in the studio, we all slipped into the zone. We were working hard, but we were completely at ease, open to each other and in the flow. Everyone was awestruck by not only how fast we were recording, but also by how good it sounded.

This song probably has the most memorable melody we've ever recorded. I really like how we're using something so catchy to convey these abstract lyrical ideas I have about songwriting. When I sit down to write a song, I always feel like I'm wading into a river where a nurturing female presence guides me and pushes me along when I need it.

I used to shoot the middle finger at everyone and tell them I'm a punk rocker from York, Pennsylvania,

There's a comfort level in the band with being a big band. It's given us a renewed energy.

It was such a cathartic experience putting together our greatest hits because it reminded us of where we came from and gave us a clear idea of what we've grown into as a band. Now that we've signed with our new label, Epic, it really feels like we've closed a chapter and with this new record are starting over.

When you accept the way things are, there's really no other way to operate than the way you've been conditioned to. You live in America: you're free to vote, you go vote, and you continue to see the problems of being a nationalistic society. You don't really know what to do because you're conditioned to feel that's just the way things are.

One of the lyrics from Bono that always sticks with me is 'Where the Streets Have No Name.' Just the name of the song, that sort of oneness, and there isn't any division in yourself, and your just at peace and fired up at the same time.