Doug Aldrich and I grew up in Philadelphia together, and Doug used to come and see a cover band that I was in. He was, like, 15 or 16, and I was, like, 18, 19.

I don't go to see bands any more because I've got tinnitus, so I have to avoid loud music. You get used to it, but when it's quiet you hear a constant ringing.

Also, I designed a pretty fascinating bracelet, where you put a rubber band around your favorite book of poems for a year, and then you take it off and wear it.

Some musicians make and record music; other musicians play in a band... I just make and record music, and I don't feel a part of anything in any music business.

When I was in the marching band, I used to take my snare drum and turn it over and use my drumstick and scratch on the other side. That was just being creative.

When a band first comes along, they should be confusing and doing something people don't accept. You don't want the first reaction to just be, "Oh, I get that."

The process of introducing people to new music is amazing. It's a gift. One of the best parts of any day is when someone says, 'Hey, check out this new band...'

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.

When you're playing music, say for instance, you're playing a part of the band and you're looking at your music, your horn is down into the stand. This way, it's

There was never going to be a right time for a band that was still recording and had health in its environment, had made a very good record and was playing well.

One of the best things about being in a band is that we're so lucky to be able to travel the world. It takes us to all these cities that we've never seen before.

I just feel like bands with the same people, no matter how different the band themselves thinks it is, the listeners go, 'Oh, yeah, it's another Nirvana record.'

I use Logic or Reason and a midi keyboard for beats. If it's gonna have all live instruments in it, I'll probably use Pro Tools and have the band lay stuff down.

It's more egalitarian on the Internet - anyone can put anything up. But in terms of the money it takes to allow a band to get good, there's less of it to invest.

But when it came to jamming and writing songs like we used to, we realized Brandon was a huge spirit in the band. Who knew? It was just something we had to learn.

Me and my band, we love playing live, and I think it shows. We have one of the better live shows in the state, and I think it's because we just love playing live.

For every great thing we did, there is a very public moment of falling on our faces. But everything that came through us as a band was a distinct vision of R.E.M.

It was a scene in the sense that we were all close and we all knew each other before the different bands had really formed. We used to rehearse in the same place.

One of the things I've always personally tried to stress with this band was to have some kind of visual aspect and to be consistent with it - like, not to change.

When the Beatles were on 'Ed Sullivan,' life went from black and white to color like in 'The Wizard of Oz' - and the irony I'm in the band Toto is not lost on me.

Later after college I discovered Gang of Four, Buzzcocks, and those kind of bands. My tastes have changed but I still carry a lot of the influences from my youth.

I don't like driving through the rain. Your tour is only going to go as good as your bus driver, kinda like your band is only going to be as good as your drummer.

Ironically, when I was playing in my first band, I would deliberately not write down any lyrics. I have a really good memory and I would just keep them in my head.

I got to a crossroads in my life where basically I was asked to choose between staying at home and being with them, or being in a band and doing what I want to do.

Within the human frequency of perception, what you see is what you get. I would classify the bottom of the band as severe unhappiness, depression and alimentation.

I had surprisingly little money when Wham! ended. You'd be very surprised how little, really, because you don't realize how much money it takes to maintain a band.

Even I just listen to some bands on YouTube. I'll think, "Oh, I quite like that, I should buy it someday," but I don't get around to buying half the stuff I liked.

And for REO - they get to play for some Styx fans and then we get to play in front of some REO fans. It helps spread the new music to the following of other bands.

My first attempt at real music was when I was 13. My first signed band was when I was 21; that failed. I got another deal at 26; that failed, and then I was broke.

A lot of punk rock. I listen to various stuff just cuz my friends now listen to a lot of different bands. I listen to a lot of underground stuff like jungle music.

When I hooked up with them I was still going to Narcotics Anonymous. But they were never into drugs. If it weren't for the band, I think I'd still be getting high.

I bought my first bass because I wanted to be in a Band, and heard that it was the easiest instrument to play. A friend told me that it was the sexiest instrument.

I've only ever been in bands where I can be the punk rock guitar player in the band because that's all I want to do. I don't even know if I could do anything else.

Cryptic messages and abstract statements are littered throughout the music of Happy Birthday, but it hasn't made the band's sun-baked pop-rock any less infectious.

I have this complex that if I walk into a place wearing a colorful shirt someone will stop me and say, 'I'm sorry, but the Latin band comes through the other door.'

I used to love Kurt Cobain, when he was telling people we're a pop band. People would laugh, they thought of it as good old ironic Kurt. But he wasn't being ironic.

I was trying to take the band in a direction that I thought was appropriate, and Roth was trying to take the band in more of a Las Vegas direction. And there he is.

I still think the best metal bands have a blues feel. The first Black Sabbath album is kind of a bludgeoning of blues. Deep Purple also started out as a blues band.

I think being in a place where there is nothing happening is very inspiring because you have to make your own fun, you are not reliant on imitating any other bands.

I don't think having a My Chemical Romance action figure will make a kid start his own band, I like to think it will make him save children from a burning building.

I somehow always found the right people on my own to jam with as well as playing with all my buddies. I didn't get to a point where I was auditioning for any bands.

Luckily for me, when I was growing up in high school, I had a band, and I was a singer in the band. I'm less of a legit Broadway singer than I am a pop-rock singer.

I just kind of thought about doing this my whole life. I never doubted myself once. I've always been singing, and I've always wanted to be on tour with a rock band.

You know, in the 1970's, when I was in high school, I belonged to a band called the Happy Funk Band. Until an unfortunate typo caused us to be expelled from school.

I love both real and fake jewelry. My kids make me necklaces, and I wear those, too. Every day, I wear my gold wedding band and the Cartier watch my husband gave me.

I know what it takes to make a band, how they should interact, what makes a record sound like it's a band - everything having to do with a band, I happen to be into.

I quit my band in New York City in 1969 and I got really angry at them. I got angry at one of my guitar players and I dove over the drum set and we got into a fight.

Every day you wake up is an opportunity to go beyond, and that 's why I let my band go right now. For the first time in my life I'm just roaming around, vagabonding.

Write your own music and write frequently. Go to as many live shows as you can as well (of bands you enjoy of course). You can learn a lot watching other performers.

As soon as it was understood that we could handle things in our own way, it was the thrill of my life to walk out on that stage with people just hemming the band in.

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