M. Shadows Quotes

My songs are more arrangements than they are songs.

Doing the instrumental thing, you're really looking for the power of the melody to carry the record.

I was obsessed with harmonies and how to put songs together in lush soundscapes. But I don't know what it was all about, really.

I write the music, produce it and the band plays within the parameters that I set.

Melody is the single most important thing to any song, period. I don't care what anybody says, it trumps everything. Not because that's my opinion but because I think it's actually indisputable fact. The human brain retains melody easier than it retains words. It's that simple.

I think it's his perception of knowing how to make a record build, keeping the integrity of the song in the music and really adding a lot of musical elements to compliment my voice and to compliment the song.

The bass line is the anchor for me. I started with the bass, and either doubled that and then added the harmonies, or sometimes added my own harmonies that I've always wanted to sing on the song. And then it just went on from there - singing violin parts and trumpet parts and just trying to emulate the sounds of the instruments.

When I think of Morricone, more than his using a specific instrument or a specific sound, it's his way of approaching music that sticks out.

We love great melodies and great songs that have great hooks and melodies, so we start a little bit more on that side as opposed to other people that start more lyric-based. Sometimes we'll do it the other way.

I love to work with producers who are very good with their chord progressions.

Basically, I'm a melodic writer.

But there's a thin line between songwriting and arranging.

If you're going to start with melody you'll need some tympani, I think.

When I write a tune - and it's been like this for many years - I always hear in the back of my head some sort of vague, orchestrated, fully fleshed-out big-band version of the song with other parts going on.

I'm interested in creating a little sound world for songs, really crafting it, building it, and making it like a little doll's house with little things inside it, staircases and rooms and everything kind of relates to everything else. I've never seen it as drums, bass, guitar and vocals in very separate spaces.

I can write hundreds of songs on simple power chords.

I've composed a fair amount in my life, and some of them have made it on to the screen, some compositions that I've done, a few. And I like doing that. I had never really considered doing a full-length thing. I've worked with other people creating full-length pieces.

I could tell it was a popular move as a writer to walk down the bass lines while you were writing a song.

If you write songs you have an idea how they're going to sound.

My vocation is more in composition really than anything else - building up harmonies using the guitar, orchestrating the guitar like an army, a guitar army.

Sometimes I write them down in musical notation as a trigger to remind me about certain directions to go. Or I can be specific about a sound I'm looking for.

I write the music because I can't really write lyrics. But I can write chords like Robin's never heard of. So I provide the music for them to add the lyrics to.

I am moved more by melodies, song structure, and evocative textures.

I love making music. I love being involved in arranging music. It's very natural to know what I want to hear next and come up with ideas that are variations of what might be good.

I studied harmony and composition in a very spontaneous manner.