Ron Mael

Some songs are sort of born in the studio but some songs are really half-written in the studio.

We just thought that bands from the U.S. in general were just really boring, and they didn't represent what we felt pop music should be.

We've kind of always felt a certain illegitimacy about what we've done.

Something that means a lot to me is when people from other fields are inspired by what we're doing.

We already tried writing musicals. Sometimes that failure can become a cause for us. We had so much passion for the idea of doing a movie musical that it finally happened.

We've really learned to ignore past failures.

There's definitely a Leos Carax universe that he has created in his films; we've done something similar with our music and lyrics. He's a pretty uncompromising filmmaker and we feel the same way.

Songs like 'So May We Start' and 'We Love Each Other So Much' aren't song-songs; they're more like rhythmic speaking, not in a rock-music kind of way but as actual dialogue.

Of course everybody wants to be filthy stinking rich. But we've seen the effect that having that kind of massive success has had on other people musically. I really think that our music has gotten stronger because of a slight level of fear you get when you don't have that kind of success.

We've always worked in the short term, in the moment.

Over 10,000 years of human history, I suppose it's been proven that there is an appeal to the idea of having a family. Just not for me.

One reason we've been able to do what we do is that we never put our music into any kind of historical perspective.

Even though we try not to be nostalgic about drawing from old music, I'm always inspired by things like old Cole Porter songs or the words in the Gershwin songs or even Stephen Sondheim, where there's a real craft to them but it isn't only that you're hearing the words it's that it links so well with the music.

We actually were passionate about the British bands.

Obviously we have a sensibility that's aligned to everything we've done but we try not within certain ways to repeat ourselves.

I don't listen to music to be soothed.

I'm so happy that the first time Russell and I saw 'Annette' with an audience was at the Cannes Film Festival, and even more pleased that it got such a strong positive reaction because that's pretty much the top honor when it comes to screening a film.

There's something about Cannes being this ultimate film destination, and we're passionate about films; we grew up with foreign films.

You take special pleasure at the over-analysis of things sometimes.

When things are sequenced really hard, it has an effect similar to the one power chords had in the '70s.

We're always just trying to keep ourselves interested enough to make music that will excite other people in the same way that we feel excited doing it.

You want to seek out the things that inspire you to keep doing what you're doing.

We sometimes feel a little world-weary where pop music is going.

The impression that you give to other people in an external way changes over time so it becomes harder to convince people musically that you are relevant, but we just put on blinders and ignore all those things and do what we think is interesting.

There is something encouraging about the rebellious spirit of the Internet. It's like the modern equivalent of punk - anyone can make a record. But it's only the means of distribution that is different rather than the content.

We think it's important to do something that's polarizing.

When we started it was only for the fun. We never had any thoughts of legacy or anything like that. It was a thrill to have one album released. Music was only a fun thing to do for us, I was studying graphic design and Russell film - but it gradually became something more than the other stuff.

My favourite Ghibli film is maybe lesser known: the 'Tale of Princess Kaguya.' It's a different visual style, by a different director to most of the films, but it's really beautiful, and an old Japanese fable brought to life in an almost moving-watercolour kind of way.

We kind of have a cranky side of ourselves, so when people get upset about what we're doing, we kind of feel that we're on the right track. But it's really difficult using humor in pop music. Sometimes it can appear that you're frivolous or there isn't any depth in what you're doing. But we always tried to have humor anyway.

There has been times when we've had really great commercial success in various parts of the world. And the sensibility is something that's kind of been maintained, but I'm not sure how much our musical environment has entered into it, or if we were more or less trapped into doing what we're doing by the nature of our personalities.

It's always hard to analyze the effect of your nationality and your surroundings or anything like that. I think in some ways we failed to become the textbook British band, but we kind of turned into something else - and it wasn't even intentional.

Even when something's funny, it has to be well-written, too. So we are really aware of the craft part of pop music. We really have a respect for the genre and feel that it's valuable. It's legitimate in its own way and it has as many possibilities as any other kind of music.

Yeah, 'Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth.' I almost hate to admit what it was originally intended to be, but it's been taken on as being an early example of a song that is championing saving the environment. The song was actually written to be, 'Watch out for mother nature; it can be very devastating.'

It's important that people realize that, with what we do, we aren't necessarily the ones saying what's being said. It's a character within the song.

Well, some people assume when Russell is singing that it is coming from his feelings, but sometimes he's just playing a character.

It's a secret club, people that have a certain sense of humor, and it doesn't matter whether it's a romantic situation or a creative one.

The one factor that determines how people get along best is a shared sense of humor.

I don't think it's especially praiseworthy that even in those periods when things around us were kind of dire, we were working on the music. There isn't an alternative; that kind of work ethic is all that there is.

In a personal way, we like to irritate by just staying around.

To be sitting on a movie set in Brussels and watching Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard singing something you wrote - it's surreal, way beyond what we expected.

Even before we had a band, the merging of music and movies just seemed so perfect.

We would have loved to have stayed in the U.K. but we're creatures of California and we missed the ocean and most of all the sun.

The artificiality of a movie musical is something we feel really comfortable working within.

The device of speaking directly to the listener is as old as Shakespeare's asides and probably much older than that. Still, we try to balance those moments with many more moments of utter sincerity and I believe the same is true in 'Annette.'

I feel there are Sparks songs that are somehow both commenting on a song while at the same time being the song. In a sense, this is breaking down the fourth wall of hiding behind the traditional song form and speaking past the song to the listener.

While I try to avoid terms like 'high' and 'low' culture, I would agree that Sparks are attempting to be both a 'mere' pop band and also to have some artistic aspirations.

In the U.S., many people thought what we were doing was frothy, silly, just not serious enough. The kind of pop role-playing we were aiming for was out of place in American pop culture.

When we were growing up, Russell and I were into The Who, The Move, The Kinks, early Pink Floyd, really good tight pop bands.

It's almost as if the most successful people don't put too much effort into being so brilliant at what they do, that they're just doing extraordinary things. The truth, however, is they're putting more and more effort into maintaining their levels of excellence.

I have a huge interest in sports, and I study the way athletes operate throughout their careers.