As with many pop acts, your shelf life isn't that great, we peaked with our first album.
I'm glad we're not splattered all over MTV, because I don't think that's entirely the right way to go about building a career. Look at Green Day - they were built up - and then came crashing down. The overexposure is just too much of a burnout for most people.
When I get out of the studio, I want to disconnect from music. I would rather spend time with my family or watch a movie. I cannot take any more music.
I wanted to do life, do something interesting. I ran out of things I wanted to say in my music, so I just put it down, sold all my gear, and put on some overalls and reconnected with the soil.
If you oversaturate the market with singles, then people will get sick of you.
I may just keep releasing singles 'til I run out of music, which is kind of cool in a way - as long as people don't go, 'Oh my God, not another one!'
The only time I think I've ever gotten sick of playing Guns and Roses songs really was during - after having played them in Guns and Roses, and then in Snakepit, and then playing 'It's So Easy' and 'Brownstone' in Velvet Revolver.
Going on tour for 10 years straight and playing 200-plus shows a year, you can't ever come back from that mentally. You're twisted in a weird way where you need that in order to be a person still.
I don't listen to much rap outside of Run DMC and the Beasties, but then I'm pretty burned out on most new music.
I had given up the guitar between '75 and '78. I completely lost interest. I was sick of hearing other guitar players and I was tired of my tunes.
I don't even listen to music when I'm off tour.
I was afraid of the sophomore slump even before our first record came out. It was a very real fear because I'd watched so many bands I'd loved in the past not deliver. I knew it was a very real thing. I didn't know why it happens, but I'd been thinking about it a lot.
I know too many musicians that have to tour on the same 10 songs, and they burn out. They get back to their house, and they have no reason to write new music. They are music'd out.
I guess all bands get to that point where they run out of inspiration and just get bored with the chemistry.
When I'm doing just music all the time, it can get really overwhelming. It's always challenging to switch it up a bit. And just because you're a musician, it doesn't mean that music is your only creative outlet.
There was, like, a point where music was slow for me, like '09. I wasn't getting that much work.
Most bands don't make it past two albums and tours, if that. We pulled it off, and everybody's been happy and cool, but we got to the point where we knew it was time to take a break.
Pop music is always great for keeping the energy up, but it can get really old, especially after eight hours, just because there aren't that many great pop songs.
I give up on pop music. As far as a commercial entity, as far as pop music goes, I quit; I absolutely throw in the towel. I can't handle it. I can't do it. I can't be what they need you to be.
