Musical Autonomy Quotes

After 12 intense years of rock music, I was happy to get away from making a record and going out on a tour. When I did it, I wanted to feel inspired. After a while I finally had my fill working on other people's music, and I started coming up with music on my own and said, 'This could be for me.'

I've never conformed to what my record label has said and, yes, that has meant that it's been a long journey for me.

When it comes to being in a band or going solo, one is collaborative, and one is not. But generally speaking, when going solo, I am the boss. People can contribute ideas, but I am the boss. When collaborating, you make compromises and look for a common ground.

There's a responsibility as a musician to do the music that you want to hear.

When I did 'Frankenstein,' the record company said, 'Now you can do 'Dracula' and 'Wolf Man' and we'll call the whole thing Monster Rock!' and I said, 'No, that's not going to happen, I'm not going to do that.' I kind of enjoy defying categorization. I love music in and of itself. I love the beauty of harmony and rhythm.

I hate when I get pinned down to a genre. I have a sound, a lane I want to go down, but I never want to be stuck in my song choices.

I don't think I have a genre at all.

Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to play music that I liked, and even when I was in cover bands when I was a teenager we only played cover tunes that we liked. That was the simple morality that I grew up with.

I never wrote music for the mainstream.

I just wanted to make melodies. I started trying to do my own thing and let the melodies make the genre themselves.

I don't want to be owned by a corporation and obliged to make a certain type of album. I want to be free.

I don't think I was ever meant to be tied down to one band for the rest of my life, playing one style of music.

I wasn't trying to sound like anybody else. Basically, I was just experimenting all over the place.

It's odd to spend your vacation with someone else's music especially when you're alone. You're free to let loose, unobserved, but someone else has chosen the words you belt out in private, the rythms you can dance to like a fool.

I'm happy that I don't have to do covers anymore, because that's not what I do.

People always try to find my agenda, but I don't really have one. It's safe to say that I make pop, but I think that I'm doing important music, too. I've just always done what I wanted to do.

I'm a guitar player. I've carved out my own style of guitar music, so I don't look for inspiration with playing guitar.

When I'm on stage by myself, I don't have to think about anything. I don't have to worry about anything because I'm not responsible for anything except just opening my mouth and making sure music comes out.

I just make the music feel the way I want it to feel, and I don't put it out until I'm totally happy with it.

I got my own sound in Atlanta because I don't listen to anybody's music. When you listen to people's music, you start to say stuff they say as an artist because that's what you've been listening to. Me, I don't listen to anybody. I support, but I don't listen, because I don't want to run with someone style. I do my own thing.

Somalis really are very musically sophisticated, and they're about their own thing.

I have a hard time working with other people with my own songs because I have a pretty complete idea of how it should be. It's usually just me multi-tracking which is better than coercing someone into doing my idea.

I've got a comfortable home for my music where I can put out whatever the hell I want, and I feel like the slate is really clean, and I can get away with anything. It's a nice, free feeling.

I've always been very open and unspecific about what kind of music I want to make.

The thing for me is I never had this burning desire to do a solo record my whole life.