Matthew Caws Quotations

When we were 14, it was Cost of Living. Then later, it was Because Because Because. That band was real ambitious and networking, looking for a deal. And that sucked, so we broke up. Nada Surf was formed for fun.

When it was released, it felt like rebirth. What was fun was that no one was paying attention. It made it like recording the first record.

I was sad when I knew I was going to have to make this record a little more obscure and a little harder to get. Just because, otherwise, I would have been airing my dirty laundry, which I don't see any point in.

If anyone writes a story about us now, that's what they say.

We made the album and when they didn't want to put it out, they didn't give it back to us. I think, morally speaking, that's a definite flaw in the modus operandi of majors. That M.O. doesn't make any allowance for the emotional and moral side -- we wrote these songs, they belong to us.

I thought, you know, I have a shot at being happy here because this is such an exciting and lucky time for me. Instead of fighting demons, sometimes it's tempting to just say, well they don't exist. That's it. They're done. I'm defeating them by decree ... I can decide to be happy and be fine.

We were really surprised. I mean, the world was a little more perfect than we thought it was. It was heart-warming.

We were working the whole time. We never quit. I mean, things got slow and we didn't have a lot to do. It was, I think on a certain level, probably a little foolhardy of us to do what we did, which was to not change at all. We didn't break up. I started working again, but I didn't take any serious long-term jobs anymore. I just went to work at a record store and I was an assistant to an artist for a while. I still wrote some freelance articles here and there. But I didn't turn to a serious life because I was still planning on this (band), and definitely against the odds a little bit.

I know there's not usually second acts in American life, so it's nice to have a second plot. The first plot was alright, but this current plot, the kind of slow climb, is what we always wanted to do. We just kind of got swept up in another thing for a couple years.

If 'Popular' hadn't had any success, I think Elektra would have dropped us right after the first record.

I could have done without a few years in the middle there where I was really struggling to pay the rent. That was rough. But, hey, that's a cheap price to pay to be able to keep this hobby as my job. When I was 11, I liked making those airplane models. And then when I was 12 and 13, I really liked listening to records. It was the next thing and I got to hang out on this one. I'm still there.

I should choose to be happy. You can choose; you can just throw a switch since, your whole life, it?s just in your brain anyway. It?s just your perception of it.

I wrote 'Always Love' in 10 minutes. It's a very positive song, more positive than I am in reality, but I was feeling good for three and a half minutes. And every time we play a show I think, 'Well I should probably be that positive,' but I'm not.

Who's going to save rock 'n' roll? It's so silly. Remember like in '86 or '87 and synthesizers were going to take over the world? And remember "rocktronica" in 1997? It's ridiculous.