Creativity Quote by Dave Rowntree

There’s a quietly radical refusal baked into Rowntree’s casual phrasing: animation isn’t framed as a “side hustle” or a late-life reinvention, but as something he’s been “fitting in” for a decade - threaded through the cracks of a life people assume is already fully claimed by music. That verb choice does real work. It suggests not a dramatic pivot, but the stubborn, practical reality of making art while schedules, identities, and public expectations push back.

Rowntree’s context matters here: as Blur’s drummer, he’s permanently legible to culture as “the musician.” The subtext is a gentle push against that flattening. When he says “my other projects,” it’s a reminder that a creative life is rarely singular, even if fame tries to make it so. The line also carries the weary realism of time management: ten years isn’t a dabble. It’s long enough to imply discipline, private commitment, and a parallel career that’s been developing off-camera.

There’s an understated emotional note, too - a kind of permission. By describing animation as something integrated rather than announced, Rowntree models a mature creative posture: you don’t need a grand narrative to justify curiosity. You just keep making things, in whatever medium you can, whenever the world leaves you room. That’s how the work survives: not through myth, but through persistence.