"I'm always surprised by how optimistic and open sometimes people who are very successful are." — James Murphy

I'm a DJ, and I live in Williamsburg, and I run an independent record company.

There's kind of a limitless amount of things I want to do, and when the path seems to open, that's when I try to do a thing.

I don't prepare very well. I'm always sort of wrapped up in what I'm supposed to be doing in the moment, and then I suddenly appear someplace, and I'm really not prepared.

The vast majority of kids in my school went on to college. That's just what you did. And I remember feeling like, 'No, I'm not doing that.' The idea that college was next, that it was a given, meant it was of no interest to me. So I didn't go.