Indie Rock Bands

"So denied, so I lied. Are you the now or never kind? In a day and a day love, I'm gonna be gone for good again. Are you willing to be had? Are you cool with just tonight? Here's a toast to all those Who hear me all too well. Here's to the nights we felt alive. Here's to the tears you knew you'd cry. Here's to goodbye. Tomorrow's gonna come too soon."

"'Cause I tried to forgive you For the shit you put me through. But it's just the hardest thing to do. So I guess it's goodbye brother. Goodbye rock and roll. Guess it's goodbye to the only life I know. It's a shame you couldn't just say you were hurting. I will see you on the other side of the curtain."

"One thousand faces all look the same; They're all so boring mild and tame. Contaminate him, knock off his glasses, Teach him to tamper with the cloning process. Pardon me sir can I ask you a favor? Make me a cowboy like my next door neighbor. Pardon me sir can I use your eraser To remove my brain of unconventional nature? Take my tongue, It's cocked and loaded. The board has dubbed you "special student". Sit alone sweat in silence. We don't tolerate defiance."

"I would swallow my pride, I would choke on the rinds, But the lack thereof would leave me empty inside. Swallow my doubt, turn it inside out, Find nothin' but faith in nothin'. Want to put my tender Heart in a blender, Watch it spin 'round to a beautiful oblivion. Rendezvous, then I'm through with you."

"So-Cal is where my mind states, But it's not my state of mind. I'm not as ugly, sad as you. Or am I origami, folded up and just pretend? Demented as the motives in your head."

"So break the bruised monogamy And let him fade to memory And your erotic, wet atomic eyes keep reoccurring. In my mind, do me a favor please and touch your lips to mine. The telephone, doesn't scare me any more. You're home, and I am here alone, my dear. Always stupidly sarcastic, my hyper-spastic, Superhero girl."

"When all is said and done And dead, does he love you The way that I do? Breathing in lighting, Tonight's for fighting. I feel the hurt so physical. Think twice before you touch my girl. Come around I'll let you feel the burn."

"I promise not to try not to fuck with your mind. I promise not to mind if you go your way and I go mine. I promise not to lie if I'm looking you straight in the eye. I promise not to try not to let you down."

"Tell those stories to me I'm dying to hear. The things you've done and seen, Farfetched as they may be. You strike a smile in me, Your stories ring of perjury, Construed with self empowering theme."

"I think there is in my previous albums a very useful romanticization or glorification of a sadness...wherein Be the Cowboy, there's a realization that no one gives a shit that you're sad, and you're still sad. Your sadness is no longer profound, and you're still sad. It's that kind of growing up and realizing that it's not cool anymore to be sad, but you're still sad."

""I think the theme that I unfortunately saw—unfortunately for me—was the theme of loneliness or the idea of being alone…And the idea of being alone, not because the world is forcing you to be alone but because you are the person causing your aloneness…”"

"“It was right around Christmas… and it was kind of too expensive for me to try to fly back from Australia to the U.S. on holiday prices, so I just decided to stay in that side of the world. I went to Malaysia instead…I thought it would be a great vacation, but I went alone, and I went during the holidays when everyone else is spending time with their families, and so, long story short, I ended up feeling incredibly, devastatingly alone… I think of myself as, you know, a very solitary, kind of introverted person, so I didn’t plan for loneliness, and then it just happened and I didn’t know what to do about it. So I wrote a song.”"

"“…it was actually about when you have some kind of toxic relationship to yourself, or to another person, for so long that it becomes your identity. Even when you don't need it anymore and you've stepped away from it, you still hold on to it because it's scary to let it go — because if you actually let it go, it feels like erasing yourself. That song is about likening that sort of toxicity to a pearl.”"

"“The phrase ‘Be the cowboy you want to see in the world’ has been an inside joke between me and myself…I would always kind of say it to myself in situations where I feel like I’m sort of trapped in my own mind. Like, ‘Oh, what would a swaggering, western movie cowboy do in this situation?’”"

"I wouldn’t say it’s an alter ego, but I have anxiety around social situations, and I don’t like going to parties…As a performer, onstage I know my place. I’m sure of myself. There’s no doubt. It’s just existing, and it’s so lovely to get to be for an hour."

"“I think it's a very feminine album…There can be something incredibly violent about being a woman and having desires as a woman – not so nice, not so soft. And I think that's an interesting experience to draw on…""

"I felt it was shaving away my soul little by little…The music industry is this supersaturated version of consumerism. You are the product being consumed, bought, and sold. Even the people on your team who are your friends, the very foundation of your dynamic is that they get a percentage of your income. Every time I turned something down, it would mean that they would make less money."

"I’ve often found myself in a situation where, narratively speaking, I’m the bad guy,” she says. “We can acknowledge more than just black and white. If you present something that feels true to you, there will be other people who are like, ‘This is true to me too.’"

"“You always want what you can’t have, and that all-American thing, from the day I was born, I could never enter that dream. That all-American white culture is something that is inherited instead of attained. So yes, it’s a sad song, but I wanted to make sure it reflected all of the contrasting feelings. You can be heartbroken about a relationship, but also, from it, realize you are you and you’re okay with who you are, or where you came from.”"

"People think I was writing it for a group of people, when actually I was writing about one person. The truth was, I loved this person so much, and us being from different worlds kept getting in the way."

"“I’d always been fascinated by death, which sounds so morbid. Especially being a woman trying to make music, I think there’s a sense that you’re never young enough, or your career is going to end soon. So there’s that element of ‘I’m going to die soon.’ Maybe not physically, but I’m going to run out of time very soon. It’s always on my mind. I have to do things now."

"“I like to say something in as little time as possible…I don’t think I have the fundamental confidence necessary to write a four-minute meandering song. Number one – because I'm impatient. But number two – because I’ve never been someone who is listened to. No one would stop to listen to me. I'm not a white guy noodling on a guitar for 45 minutes. No one would stay for me. I learned from a young age to be concise because there’s a very small window for me to grab someone's attention.”"

"“Even when I’m in a scene I don’t think of myself as being in the scene. I’m very conscious of myself being an outsider. I think that has to do with my upbringing outside of the US – not just my heritage but that I grew up differently. I moved to a different country every year or every other year…a lot of different places due to my father’s occupation.”"

"“I was always bothered when people say, ‘I cry to your music, it sounds like a diary, it sounds so personal,’…Yes, it is personal. But that’s so gendered. There’s no feeling of, ‘Oh, maybe she’s a songwriter and she wrote this as a piece of art.’”"

"“I write personal stories about relationships, and living in this world and being a human being…but I happen to live in a world which views me as an Asian American. So my experiences are tainted by that, even if I’m not conscious of it. Someone said ‘the personal is political’, where it seems like me just being honest about my experiences as a human being and as a person translates as being political about being an Asian American person. I’m not in this to be political or a social activist, it just happens that my being honest is a very political thing.”"

"“…this song is quite autobiographical because I didn't grow up in the U.S. I am half Japanese, and it came from wanting to just fit into this very American person's life and simply not being able to. Just fundamentally being from a different place and feeling like I would just get in the way of their progression if their life, because I could just never get to wherever they're naturally going.”"

"“…A lot of the ‘yous’ in my songs are abstract ideas about music...I will neglect everything else, including me as a person, just to get to keep making music…And even if it actually sometimes hurts, it doesn’t matter as long as I get to be a musician.”"

"“It's not like [the album’s protagonist] is a fictional character, but I noticed a personality in me that was very obsessed with control and feeling like I have power — because I am powerless and don't have a lot of control. So I kind of investigated that person in me. What is the exaggerated form? Well, it's a woman who's incredibly controlled, severe, and austere. But maybe there's some kind of deep desire or emotion that's whirling around in her and trying to get out. Maybe she's losing control.”"

"“In tenth grade—this says a lot about how developmentally delayed I was—I had in my mind that it was the proper thing for me to have a love interest. And you’d see in movies where two characters instantly see each other and are, like, I’m in love!, and then it just cuts to them on a date or interacting...A lot of my adolescence was like that. Me thinking I was doing the right thing by re-creating a movie scene that I’d seen but then realizing that’s not how it happens in real life.”"

"“When people looked at me they couldn’t recognize any of the history of me, like, ‘Where is she from? What’s her ethnicity? Who is she?’ I just didn’t make sense to anybody.”"

"“By the time it was done my heart was pounding like I just saw the rest of my life. I was fucking doomed.”"

"“I’ve always grown up feeling lonely or other, but through my music, I can be like: ‘Look, we’re the same, we’ve felt the same thing, so we’re not so different. I belong here.’ It’s almost like a hungry monster that’s just a constant need to feel connection.”"

"At seventeen I started to starve myself; I thought that love was a kind of emptiness. And at least I understood then the hunger I felt, And I didn't have to call it loneliness.We all have a hunger."

"It's a different kind of danger, And the bells are ringing out. And I'm calling for my mother, As I pull the pillars down. It's a different kind of danger, And my feet are spinning around. Never knew I was a dancer 'Til Delilah showed me how."

"I was on a heavy tip, Trying to cross a canyon with a broken limb. You were on the other side, like always, Wondering what to do with life."

"Don't touch the sleeping pills, they mess with my head, Dredging up great white sharks, swimming in the bed. And here comes a killer whale, to sing me to sleep, Thrashing the covers off, has me by its teeth.And, ah, my love remind me, what was it that I said? I can't help but pull the earth around me to make my bed. And, ah, my love remind me, what was it that I did? Did I drink too much? Am I losing touch? Did I build a ship to wreck?"

"Between a crucifix and the Hollywood sign, we decided to get hurt. Now there’s a few things we have to burn. Set our hearts ablaze, and every city was a gift. And every skyline was like a kiss upon the lips. And I was making you a wish In every skyline."

"Oh, the king, Gone mad within his suffering, Called out for release. Someone cure him of his grief.His only son Cut down, but the battle won. Oh, what is it worth, When all that's left is hurt?"

"You are the hole in my head, You are the space in my bed. You are the silence in between What I thought and what I said. You are the night-time fear, You are the morning when it's clear. When it's over, you're the start; You're my head and you're my heart."

"How deeply are you sleeping or are you still awake? A good friend told me you've been staying out so late. Be careful, oh, my darling, oh, be careful what it takes. From what I've seen so far, the good ones always seem to break. And I was screaming at my father and you were screaming at me. And I can feel your anger from way across the sea. And I was kissing strangers, I was causing such a scene. Oh, the heart it hides such unimaginable things.Grab me by my ankles, I've been flying for too long. I couldn't hide from the thunder in a sky full of song. And I want you so badly, but you could be anyone. I couldn't hide from the thunder in a sky full of song."

"The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out; You left me in the dark. No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight, In the shadow of your heart."

"This is a gift, it comes with a price. Who is the lamb and who is the knife? Midas is king and he holds me so tight, And turns me to gold in the sunlight."

"And I've been a fool and I've been blind, I can never leave the past behind. I can see no way, I can see no way. I'm always dragging that horse around. All of his questions such a mournful sound. Tonight I'm gonna bury that horse in the ground. Cause I like to keep my issues drawn, But it's always darkest before the dawn.Shake it out, shake it out. Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa. Shake it out, shake it out. Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa. And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back. So shake him off, oh whoa."

"Time it took us To where the water was. That’s what the water gave me. And time goes quicker Between the two of us. Oh, my love, don’t forsake me, Take what the water gave me."

"Happiness hit her, like a train on a track, Coming towards her, stuck still no turning back. She hid around corners and she hid under beds. She killed it with kisses and from it she fled. With every bubble she sank with a drink And washed it away down the kitchen sink.The dog days are over, The dog days are done. The horses are coming, So you better run. Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father; Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers. Leave all your love and your longing behind, You can't carry it with you if you want to survive."

"Here, I don't have to quiet Here, I don't have to be kind Extraordinary and normal, all at the same time But look at me run myself ragged Blood on the stage But how can I leave you when you're screaming my name? Screaming my name"

"Looking up from underneath, Fractured moonlight on the sea. Reflections still look the same to me As before I went under.And it's peaceful in the deep Cathedral where you cannot breathe. No need to pray, no need to speak, Now I am under all."

"Here, I can take up the whole of the sky Unfurling, becoming my full size And look at me burst through the ceiling Aren't you so glad you came? Breathless and begging and screaming my name Screaming my name"

"Everybody jump Everybody sing Everybody move Everybody scream Everybody shake Put down your screen Everybody up Everybody scream!"

"And I will come to you in the evening, ragged and reeling Shaking my gold like a tambourine A bouquet of brambles, all twisted and tangled I'll make you sing for me, I'll make you scream"