Everything is completely democratic in this band so far and that is the way that we would like to keep it.
When I produce other people, that’s the thing I can do well because I’ve been in a band, and I can play the political game and make everybody feel happy, and I can check their performances, and I can work on the sound while they’re being a band.
I don’t see us as a big media gimmick band. We don’t have a cultivated appearance or anything like Kiss.
Without a band, I’m much more free to improvise.
Being a new band, I just can’t think of a better way to get your name out to all of the Hard-Rock crowd than playing with twenty of the biggest Hard-Rock bands in the world.
The difference between Tinted Windows and Hanson shows is a lot of just repertoire. Hanson has been a band for years – we have a lot of songs to pull from and it’s a different dynamic – a common kind of thread. With Tinted Windows – it’s kind of a little like ‘hey, we’re this new band.’
We became friends as we became a band. Our friendship evolved as the band evolved. It had its ups and downs, but it was mostly ups for the four of us. We got along well almost all of the time. Hey! We liked each other and we still do.
Because usually in the past when I was in a big band, that was all I did.
I listen to Helmet – and I love Helmet, they’re a great band – but every song sounds the same.
I never have any problem getting enthusiastic with a good song and a good band.
Porcupine Tree is a band, and it’s not up to me where the band goes – it’s between the manager, our agent, and the band as a whole.
I started playing in the band and learned to play piano by ear.
I’m definitely responsible for coming in with some basic chord changes, or ideas. Everybody in the band looks to me to come up with the basic seed, so it’s not very productive to come in with nothing.
When I was a very young kid, the first music that really turned me on was a new wave of British heavy metal – big, dumb rock music. There was a band called Diamond Head – they were basically the band that inspired Metallica. But I also liked bands like Saxon and Iron Maiden.
Being a bass player in a band without a drummer for seven, eight years has been kind of weird.
I think Andy Kaufman is to comedy what the Velvet Underground was to music – it’s like, 80 thousand records sold, but everybody who bought one started a band.
Yes, I did have a band for two or three years. They were called Adie and the Jonahs.
I thought I’d do something nice for the band… I’ll hang myself.
I dropped out of college when I was 18 to be in a band.
You know, with bands like Kiss back out on the road and Aerosmith coming out, we are going to be a band like that, in the sense that it’s a big rock band.
I’ve been through a lot of experiences in my life being in the biggest band in the world.
I was brought up with psychics and tarot cards. My mum was always told I was going to be in a boy band and be famous as a singer.
The first time we all played as a band, I think it was in January 1998, in Jonny’s bedroom.
When the Happy Mondays started I was like the dad of the band.
I have a younger brother and sister who actually play in my band, and we were always into Disney music, big time. The first time I heard myself sing was when I recorded myself singing a Disney song. I remember it because it was awful, and I didn’t expect to hear that. I think it was ‘A Whole New World’ from ‘Aladdin.’
The Jug Band was exactly what I wanted to do, and it wasn’t my idea.
In S Club I played a role in a band, but now I can go off and be me – My horizon’s wide open now. It’s scary and it’s daunting, but it’s an absolute thrill. I feel brand new!
There’s sort of an open offer to work with a guy in Los Angeles who does big band and orchestra arrangements who was at least an acquaintance to Les Baxter before he passed away.
A lot of people say, ‘AC/DC – that’s the band with the little guy who runs around in school shorts!’
If a band is really good and the chemistry is unique, it should continue. But I guess David is just very happy doing his solo career. He’s got a different band every time he goes out.
After I quit my band, I definitely was so full, like I’m so full I could never eat again. I had that kind of feeling where the elements, like the touring stuff, were harder for me and I definitely felt fine not experiencing it again.
I ain’t heard anyone play like I do in my band and I am very happy about that.
I wasn’t very good at studies but was into a lot of extra-curricular activities. I used to play the keyboard and bass guitar in my school band and went on to study keyboard from Trinity College, London.
I still love recording and still love the stage, but like my dad, I have the most fun when I am in front of that glorious orchestra or that kick-butt big band.
I sang opera, I sang show tunes. I got into a rock band for a while. I’ve sung a lot of different things.
My life had become a catastrophe. I had no idea how to turn it around. My band had broken up. I had almost lost my family. My whole life had devolved into a disaster. I believe that the police officer who stopped me at three a.m. that morning saved my life.
I’ve always chosen my band members based on their sense of humor. It might sound stupid, but it means not only are they fun to live with on a tour bus for years, but humor implies intelligence.
Ella can work nightclubs that Duke might not be able to work, because of having the big band. Where they go now is strictly a matter of their own names and talents.
People like to let loose at rock concerts and it gives them an excuse to do it in a way that is not destructive to others and not really destructive to the band.
I do a lot of curiosity buying; I buy it if I like the album cover, I buy it if I like the name of the band, anything that sparks my imagination.
Mark Winchester has left the band. He’s decided that he’s tired of the road and just wants to concentrate on his career in Nashville. I don’t blame him at all. He’ll certainly be missed.
Phil has always been a fighter. He was getting in fights all the time. I told him that if he ever hit me then I would leave the band. He wanted to find out if I was telling him the truth. He hit me so I left and that is how UFO split up.
I’ll come in with a string of riffs and direct the musical ideas. But you still need a band and their input to make the ideas come alive. You can’t underestimate band chemistry.
Every performance has provided a learning experience, and as we go, we keep fine-tuning the shows. If we decide to do a tour, we rehearse until we perfect. One thing that I do prior to every show is that we huddle the band and pray. We thank more than we ask.
The Shins is, in a way, a recording project that turned into a live band. So I don’t really keep myself beholden to any rules when I’m in the studio for Shins. I just gotta get it done as best I can.
We’re absolutely American and distinctly so, I think. That’s part of what people respond to outside of this country, part of the reason that we’re such a huge band outside of the U.S., where we’re not so popular now as we were 10 or 12 years ago.
I played trombone for 10 minutes, and then I was in an accordion band in school for even less.
The band projects just took natural priority. I didn’t really have a solo career, just wanted to share the music in another way and to learn more about writing, recording, etcetera.
‘Sing It Again Rod’ touches all the solo bases since Stewart’s departure from the Jeff Beck Band, wherein he cut his teeth on American audiences for $75 a week plus expenses, and wisely ignores his generally inferior work with the Faces.
It’s actually not that hard to play guitar in a rock band.
There are gay and lesbian people in all walks of life, in all different types of professions. I just happen to be a gay man who sings in a heavy metal band.
Minor Threat was an important band, believe me that it was important it in my life, but it belongs to an era that no longer exists. I’m not nostalgic. I think music today is much more important, because something can be done about it.
This band makes sure that we have whole sections of stuff that are free form so that they don’t know what we are doing next, that is the fun part of playing. You are playing something that you haven’t ever played before.
The music is at this weird intersection of dance music and indie music. It’s not quite dancey enough to do a full-blown DJ set, and it wasn’t quite rock enough for a rock band. But I guess it’s what makes us unique – drawing from a lot of different influences.
I was in a band when I was 15. We were a glam band. Then I couldn’t afford to buy makeup. At the time that was the thing.
I gravitated towards Jim Ward, because I knew he was totally into the work aspect of being in a band.
When I’m playing with the band or playing with some projects or some of my own stuff it’s about the musical approach. That would be the more turntablist approach to things of where it’s strictly about music.
I know I always look like the evil one bossing the band around in ‘Scrubs’ – well, I’m the same in real life too.
Willie Nelson, out there 200 days a year, calls his band family. And it is.
I think getting the rest of the guys in the band to write is important.
