Bernard Sumner Quotes

Bernard Sumner

Profession : Musician

Birth : January 4, 1956

If you go out and just play the old stuff and never write new stuff, you're not really a complete musician, you're a performer.

Bernard Sumner

New Order has always been a hybrid band. We always mixed guitar, bass, drums with electronic.

Bernard Sumner

The story of New Order is all about learning from our mistakes.

Bernard Sumner

I'm not interested in how well someone can sing. It's what you're singing that interests me.

Bernard Sumner

You can't put rubbish into a computer and get something good out.

Bernard Sumner

If it wasn't for John Peel, there would be no Joy Division and no New Order. He was one of the few people to give bands that played alternative music a chance to get heard, and he continued to be a champion of cutting-edge music throughout his life.

Bernard Sumner

I saw the Sex Pistols, and they were terrible.

Bernard Sumner

I get writer's block all the time. The only way I can write what I consider to be good lyrics is to put myself through the mill.

Bernard Sumner

The words that I'm most happy with are the ones that come from my subconscious rather than my conscious. They just feel right. I think that's the same with music, really. If you're doing an album, there's ten or eleven sets of lyrics, so you get to the point of inspiration ten or eleven times - it's difficult.

Bernard Sumner

I tend to think in images and feelings rather than non-abstract concepts.

Bernard Sumner

Choosing a name for a band is always a difficult thing, and I don't think people should read too much into a name because, after all, it's just a handle. It doesn't mean anything.

Bernard Sumner

I'm very proud of New Order and Joy Division, that heritage of songs.

Bernard Sumner

I believe that every business and company takes two years to establish.

Bernard Sumner

People come up to me and say, 'You changed my life.' I don't think I changed anyone's life. I think their life changed while they were listening to the music.

Bernard Sumner

When Joy Division started, I was scared to death of having to get a normal day job.

Bernard Sumner

If you start off writing an album with a band, the reality is that you're constantly in each other's company, so it's really important that you get on with each other.

Bernard Sumner

I always felt like there were always egos involved when I was trying to get music finished in New Order. Sometimes it would feel like I was running through water.

Bernard Sumner

I was no good at anything else at school. But I was good at one thing, which was creativity.

Bernard Sumner

There were certain things I couldn't do with New Order without upsetting the rest of the band, so I started to write some solo stuff.

Bernard Sumner

II'm quite a successful musician, but I'm not sure if it's my vocation.

Bernard Sumner