“People have told me they’ve had a boyfriend for 10 years, and then they came to my show and kissed a girl for the first time.”
Peaches, musician. The Guardian interview (2006)
“I’ve always resisted change, but I’ve always accepted evolution. The idea of deliberate change - let me rephrase that: I have resisted deliberate change. “We need to make different music.” I actually think we’re gonna make different music, because every day we’re different people. We just need to be organic about it.”
Ian Mackaye, musician/producer. Mark Prindle interview (2009)
“To me music isn’t just interesting sounds. There must be content, an articulation, a state of mind, that I feel from the music because music to me is like a person. To me it presents an interesting state of mind. I think this has gone out of some music so that becomes more mechanical.”
Conny Plank, producer. Electronic Musician interview (1987)
“I think there’s a certain amount of acting that goes on in making records, so it doesn’t matter what you’re singing about.”
Frank Black, musician. The Quietus interview (2010)
“We all end up famous anyway. You only get 15 minutes, though. So the trick is to aim high, to try and shoot through the stars. Because it’s just a fleeting opportunity. It’s like taking snapshots when you’re at the top of the Empire State Building. You’ve gotta take them when you’re there, because you’re gonna come down soon.”
Ariel Rosenberg, musician. About.com interview (2010)
“Who says what a bass guitar is supposed to be used for? I mean obviously the bass guitar is something of a hybrid or it was a cross between an electric guitar and an upright double bass, so once it’s in a musician’s hands who says what you should or shouldn’t do with it.”
Tom ‘Squarepusher’ Jenkinson, musician. The Culture Show interview (2006)
“This [Maximum Rocknroll] was never supposed to be a record. NOFX got popular in the mid 90’s so mystic records took both seven inchers and put them out on a cd with a bunch of demo songs. It’s a totally sucky record and the artwork totally bites. We had no control over any of it. In fact we didn’t know it was coming out until I saw one in a store. If you want to hear a totally crappy fucked album then this is the one for you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
‘Fat’ Mike Burkett, musician. Fat Wreck Chords “promotional” copy (date unknown)
“He [Ravi Shankar] gave me another way of looking at music – he opened the door to things that were unknown to me. A music based on rhythmic and melodic structures, with no harmonic structure whatsoever – but as I’d studied that with Mademoiselle Boulanger, I wasn’t lacking in that department. Without meaning to, they complemented each other, and set me off on a completely different track.”
Philip Glass, musician. The Independent interview (2007)
“The press, the media, they’re not the judge, God is the judge. The only person you have to think about lying twice to is yourself and to God. The press isn’t either of them, and I just figured irrelevant.”
Bob Dylan, musician. Unknown interview (Date unknown)
“Who cares if they’ve paid dues and they can hold a note? I’ve always been into shit that was vivid, psychedelic or not. Things that had a lot of colour, whether it be a painting or a song.”
Edan, musician. BBC Collective interview (2005)
“You’ve gotta play the game and that means a lot of mutual backslapping. I find [the praise] flattering to a small degree. It’s handy sometimes; it means people latch on to our stuff for about five minutes. But the way these things affect you depends on your perception of things.”
Billy Childish, musician. Pennyblackmusic interview (2005)
“When I’m out recording I can be very very selective about what I choose to listen to and record and how I deal with it… I am bothered by traffic noise and electronic Muzak and distorted sounds and sounds in the wrong place, which is my very general description for noise. It does annoy me and it can effect my mood, because I use sound so much as a thing to react to and to sound off to. And even when I’m out shopping I’m listening and enjoying some sounds, but I can easily be frustrated by others.”
Chris Watson, sound recordist, musician, producer. Binauralmedia interview (2007)
“What’s missing from pop music is danger. There’s no excitement and mystery - people sneaking out and going to these forbidden concerts by Elvis Presley or Jimi Hendrix.”
Prince, musician. Unknown source (1982) (reprinted in Observer Music Monthly, 2006)
“I’m not the quickest, most prolific writer either. I would never pretend to be. I don’t think prolificness is equal to quality at all. I would rather have one song that people actually like than 15 songs that they can barely stand. But that’s just me.”
Kim Deal, musician. Pitchfork interview (2007)
“When you’re the opening act for large groups, sometimes you feel like a rectal thermometer. You’re going out there, well, you’re taking the temperature of the audience.”
Tom Waits, musician. Letterman interview (2002)
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