Life & Mortality Quote by Kelly Jones

Jones is saying the quiet part out loud: “live” music is a two-way transaction, not a heroic monologue. The line starts with a provocation - a performance is “only as good” as the room - that deliberately pricks the mythology of the self-sufficient artist. He’s not flattering audiences so much as admitting dependency. The band can rehearse, tour-harden, bring the hits, but the atmosphere is co-authored by strangers who decide, collectively and in real time, whether the night becomes sweat and communion or just competent labor.

The subtext is about energy as currency. “Feed off” is practical, almost physiological; it frames performance as metabolism, where crowd response isn’t applause-as-approval but fuel. That’s why the middle of the quote matters: “we always try to give them all we’ve got” establishes professional ethic, then immediately undercuts the romance with “sometimes you don’t get a lot back.” It’s a musician acknowledging the indignity of playing your heart out to folded arms, phones, or a venue that feels like it booked you by accident.

The last clause - “we’ve never been dead whenever we’ve performed” - is the flex, and it lands because it’s framed as survival rather than superiority. He’s positioning the band’s identity around refusing emotional vacancy, even when the crowd is stingy. In the context of rock’s long grind - mid-tier bills, uneven rooms, audiences fragmented by hype cycles - that stubborn aliveness is the real brand promise: you may not give us much, but we won’t punish you with autopilot.