THOMAS MARS

It's hard to talk about love without sounding either cheesy, or revealing too much personal stuff.

When I started writing, the first thing that came out was in English. I liked a few French things, but they were very overwhelming.

There was never a choice to sing in English or French, that's the thing. We started a band and sang right away in English. You reproduce the thing you like, and most of the bands we liked were coming from England or the U.S. We also came to cherish the fact that there was no one in France singing in English -we were so happy Phoenix to be the first. Even if we are traitors to France, our country, which I'll never understand, because we talk about things that are very French.

In California, there is a strong tension between north and south.

I think Björk is playing on the fact she knows she's eccentric and she accepts the fact.

I discovered that a lot of the songs I like, they're fantasies, a vision of something, but you don't actually live there.

The idea is not to please the most amount of people. Growing up in Versailles, the idea was to please the least amount of people.

The basics of acting are really better in America than in Europe. Just the basic "fake laugh" is impossible to get in France.

It's hard to write new stuff when the songs you have written before are still changing and evolving. It would be like building something when the foundations there are not really solid.

I'm a lazy guy. I can't focus for too long. I'd rather hear a record that has no filler.

When you play in a band, you're in phase with people. When you're a DJ, you're totally off-phase. Your work time is 3 A.M. - 5 A.M. and I don't think you can connect. You're miserable the whole time. Whenever I see a DJ in the airport, they are always on the verge of crying.

The idea is not to please the most amount of people. Growing up in Versailles, the idea was to please the least amount of people.

Sometimes a sound gets overused. There is such a thing as a good saxophone, but it's like those fields in agriculture - they need to rest for a year or so. You need time to burn all the saxophones and start from scratch.

My favorite albums are really short.

It's hard to talk about love without sounding either cheesy, or revealing too much personal stuff.

It's hard to write new stuff when the songs you have written before are still changing and evolving. It would be like building something when the foundations there are not really solid.

In California, there is a strong tension between north and south.

When I started writing, the first thing that came out was in English. I liked a few French things, but they were very overwhelming.

Some amazing records have this power to leave you with inspiration; you're left with the urge to write something. And some records are totally overwhelming, because they are so good, they burn the bridges behind them.

I think every artist needs a rule that's stupid but that helps him, like a deadline would.

I'm a lazy guy. I can't focus for too long. I'd rather hear a record that has no filler.

There are different kinds of artists: the ones that inspire you, and the ones that overwhelm you.

Growing up in Versailles is like growing up in a museum, and the people living there are almost the security.

I think Björk is playing on the fact she knows she's eccentric and she accepts the fact.

I discovered that a lot of the songs I like, they're fantasies, a vision of something, but you don't actually live there.

In France a lot of songs were ruined by their associations with commercials. But so far no Apple commercial has ruined a song for me.

There was never a choice to sing in English or French, that's the thing. We started a band and sang right away in English. You reproduce the thing you like, and most of the bands we liked were coming from England or the U.S. We also came to cherish the fact that there was no one in France singing in English -we were so happy Phoenix to be the first. Even if we are traitors to France, our country, which I'll never understand, because we talk about things that are very French.

One of my favorite French singers, Alain Bashung, was the expert at creating his own universe; no one knows what he's talking about, even he doesn't know because it's so poetic.

In an ideal world people would know the words just for the show and then forget them right after.

The basics of acting are really better in America than in Europe. Just the basic "fake laugh" is impossible to get in France.

The more you say no the more people ask.

In France, anyone can use your music on like a TV show or whatever - they don't need to ask permission. It's almost like a child when it has its own life.