Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I never play as well without these guys; the best I have ever been creatively has been with Pearl Jam.
Throughout my life of having Crohn's, I've been on and off prednisone when other stuff was not working.
Everything I know, I stole directly from Ace Frehley, Angus Young, and Keith Richards. That's how you learn.
I'm the kind of guy who wants to be involved in everything concerning our new baby. I don't want to miss a thing.
There's a Kiss through-line to a lot of the music that came out of Seattle, and it hasn't been talked about a lot.
I love some kind of pressure in the air. Some kind of weirdness in the crowd, good or bad. That's what we thrive on.
Playing onstage, I'm always aware of where the bathrooms are. When Crohn's hits, I have to run, or it won't be pretty.
To just meet people that have Crohn's or colitis and to hear their stories gives me a lot of hope and a lot of courage.
As a band, we just don't tolerate any kind of abuse or intolerance of any kind of LGBT people by any kind of government.
Every Crohn's and colitis patient is different, and they all respond to different things. That's the craziest thing about it.
A lot of times, bands will go on tour, and people only wanna hear the hits. Luckily, our fans are receptive to our new stuff.
I try to dig deep into my soul to figure out something positive in the pain. I think I go to certain places when I play to heal.
We came out of a very provincial city that was not very supportive of music, and we had to do our own thing and flyer everywhere.
A song kind of comes out of anywhere. A song will come out of the sky, or an idea, or walking around, or playing with other guys.
I think I bought into that whole rock n' roll lifestyle, and all that does in the end is kill ya. So I don't recommend it to anyone.
We try to keep everything as in-house and small and as punk rock and do-it-yourself as we can. That's part of our way of doing business.
When you're in a band, you're just trying to do whatever you can to keep your band together. You're thinking very inwardly, very myopic.
Crohn's patients differentiate their diet. You know, what I can handle and tolerate, another person couldn't, and what they can, I can't.
We value doing things grassroots, even at this level. That means no real high ticket prices or meet-and-greets and all that kind of stuff.
I think about trying to make it better. That's all I do when we play 'Even Flow' or anything off of 'Ten': 'Let's do this the best we can.'
Whether it's Neil Young or Johnny Rotten, a band has to have someone like that: someone who you listen to and know that he believes what he says.
Reason why we've lasted so long is we write music; we get very intense. We go away from each other, do our own thing, and then we get back together.
Honestly, I'd rather do regular interviews. It's more interesting to talk about whatever... anything other than guitars. I'm not into being a tech-head.
I love playing with Jeff. That's something I never really say in the press, but he's my favorite bass player. I've played right next to him for 10 years.
There are moments in South America, in Brazil, where you look out, and there are literally thirty, forty thousand people jumping up and down at the same time.
Playing music was something I wanted to do since I was 11 years old, so when we went on tour and started selling records, it was an incredible, strange dream.
My life would have been different without Paul Stanley or Ace Frehley. They would have to be the greatest on my list as an influence to my life at 11 years old.
Other bands gave us lip service, but when it came down to it they kind of backed off. That was a little disheartening. But I respect them. That's their business.
There's Eddie's conviction and his lyrics and his ideals, and he can just rock straight out. His vocals are incredible. And we all are really competent musicians.
Jeff Ament, the bass player, plays basketball. He ultimately wants to do music, but he's really good at basketball, too. We all want to do what we can't do, maybe.
I think our relationship with Epic had run its natural course, and it happened to coincide with the fulfillment of our contract. We decided not to resign with them.
That's a fantasy of mine. We could do every record in a residency. It would be so cool. We could play the B-sides along with the album and get really creative with it.
'Even Flow' is the best to play live because of the long solos. It starts out slow and builds, and, depending on what the audience does, I can reflect that in the solo.
It was by design that we mostly used pictures that you could not necessarily see what was going on, and that didn't really focus in on the band, but instead focused in on a theme.
Sometimes with Polaroids, the shot you want to get in your head doesn't happen. What it makes me do is be patient, I guess, or let go of that presumption of what the shot's going to be.
When we're not doing any Pearl Jam stuff, that's when I'll probably think of doing something else, whether that be scoring - hopefully more opportunities will come - or doing a solo thing.
I hope we've lightened up over the years. We're fairly comfortable where we are, living-wise, and we're excited, honestly, just to still be around. I think we're less earnest than we were.
At some shows, the set list gets changed while we are on stage. I know Ed thinks about the set very hard throughout the day in order to make the best show possible for the fans and for us.
At this point, because we have stayed the same course for so many years, I feel like we are freer to make choices that are motivated by what feels right creatively at a given point in time.
After Mad Season, I started writing my own music for Pearl Jam and brought it in. 'Given To Fly' came out of that, and so did 'Faithful' - those were on 'Yield,' which came after Mad Season.
Polaroids were the instant thing to get a photo back when I started it. You had to wait two days to get your film back if you had a real camera, and I was more of an instant-gratification guy.
I used to sit for hours and copy every lick on those early AC/DC and Kiss records. From there, I went on to Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan. After a while, you kind of develop your own style.
You get some confidence in your songwriting abilities and go for the essentials - guitar, bass, drums, vocals. Those are the basic band essentials that have to be in place before you go any further.
And watching Ed, he's really coming into his own doing some new things onstage I've never seen him do. He's really getting into it, putting 120 percent into the show. We feel comfortable and excited.
Crohn's doesn't define who you are. You are a human being; you are special and a great addition to society. Crohn's is just a part of your life. Try to be positive and proactive - therein lies the solution.
In the early days of Pearl Jam, we were caught up in such a whirlwind that I was just trying to keep my head on straight and play music. I didn't have the kind of confidence that other guys in the band did.
Tom Petty sent me this amazing 12-string Rickenbacker, and 'Not for You' was the first time I used it. It was like a Christmas present. One day, it just showed up at my door. I called him up and thanked him.
I'd love to have Jack White up. I think he's just a phenomenal guitar player. I'd love to see him play up close because he's got a killer voice, and he's a great lead player, too. That would be exciting to me.
I've met a ton of new people who have colitis or Crohn's. Talking to them has been probably the most healing thing: to hear other people's attitudes on how they deal with their disease and how they stay positive.
I play 'Rock Band' with my friends' kids, and they completely beat me senseless with it. I feel like I'm holding them back. I try to play the drums, and I just can't play the drums. I think I need to work on my skills.