John Rzeznik Quotes

I've also become much more the musician I've always wanted to be.

Everything I record, I just try to sound like me and come up with songs that suit what I do, and then just go for it.

'Cause I felt I didn't have anything else to prove as a musician... and boy was I wrong about that one.

I seem to have secured some place in world of music and that's kind of all that really matters to me.

In the past, I tried to be more of a typical session guitarist. I wasn't so concerned with impressing anybody.

One of the biggest misconceptions was, after I left Dream Theater, I went off and did, like, five different bands and side projects. Everyone was like, 'We thought you wanted a break.' And it was like, well, I didn't want a break from making music; I just needed a break from the Dream Theater camp.

I never left music, I just left the music scene.

Surely there's a deeper pursuit to music than getting bros to pump their fists in the air.

You could say, 'Oh, we're gonna write the heaviest album of all time' or 'We're gonna write an album that sounds like 'Iowa.'' Even if we set out to try to do so, it would never compare. We're not those people anymore, we're not that band anymore.

People always want to talk about who I was, but I've always been singing, always been experimenting with pop music.

When I perform, I like to immerse myself in the music, and I just try to get off on the diversity of music.

Growing up in a band is weird - you get stuck hanging on to what it is you think you are. But what I took into Depeche was that punk ethic, that you don't have to be accomplished to be a musician. If you've got ideas, you can do this.

It was very satisfying knowing I could come in not really knowing what I was going to do, and at the end of the session feeling that I'd really done interesting guitar work and knowing that I'd really contributed to the music.

I've been making music for a long time, since I was very young, but at the same time, I'm still exploring what works for me. I feel like I'm just starting out.

The music I turn out these days is the kind of music I want to hear myself.

The most important thing is that you honor that musical integrity, whether you make music that sounds like ABBA or you make music that sounds like Void.

I needed to explore my talent and versatility and see if I had another side to me, another sound.

Don't worry about what others say about your music. Pursue whatever you are hearing... but if everybody really hates your music maybe you could try some different approaches.

I'm continuing to learn more about music - it's an ocean, and you can never really say that you know everything. I'm grateful that I'm still living and making music among the greats.

At last a dream come true. The Instrument of Instruments.

I just really longed to do music that reflected me as an adult and music that I thought was for other adults.

If I'm inspired and music inspires me, then I will continue to play it.

I tend to play in a way that feels natural to me. To me that's authentic for myself. I play by where I'm led by some sense of where I feel I'm supposed to be.

I didn't get into making music for the fame aspect. There are people who do desire that.

The way that I've always gone about making music, the rule of thumb, has just been to make what I love.