Zitat des Tages von Greg Lake:
I feel with ELP that I wasn't making the most of my life and I wasn't making the most of my creativity. I was marking time. I don't want to do that. Life is to short.
What I learned then was there is a certain power in a three piece band. The more people you put on that stage, the more diluted it becomes.
There is no standing still because time is moving forward.
The greatest music is made for love, not for money.
I'll have periods when I write and periods when I don't. But you don't want it to become a discipline, really. If it becomes a discipline, it becomes a chore, and that's no good. To make art you need to be inspired.
I don't think art is a goal orientated business. I don't do things for the challenges, I only do them because I love them, I'm not really a goal orientated, achiever type of person.
When I was writing my autobiography, these songs came up from time to time which were important to me, and I realized that what they really represented was, they'd come from this age of shared music.
Philosophically, what I have learned is to thy own self be true. That is the biggest lesson of all. Relax; music is fun. To many people take it to seriously because of the money involved.
When you play music with someone who has a heart rather than playing with someone who is just doing it for money or is cynical it makes all the difference.
Most of my career has been about standing on a stage performing music to an audience, and once the show is over, they go home and I go on to the next show.
When you are in a band for a number of years you loose your identity in a way. You become a part of that band and then all of a sudden you are not part of that band. You are still the band without the other two members.
The early ELP albums were pioneering in a way.
I would like to involve myself in some black music. I would like to do some blues and some gospel music. I want to try stuff from other genres and try to widen my musical base.
Making a comeback is one of the most difficult things to do with dignity.
Unless you go forward then you are going back.
As I said to Ringo, I was in a successful Rock N Roll band. He was in a band that changed the world. That's the difference.
It's true when they say songwriting is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. In truth, what happens is... songs comes through you.
I just got a call one day from Ringo asking me if I wanted to go out on the tour. It was as simple as that. He was putting together this band and he heard of me in the context of doing this and he gave me a call. I jumped at the chance.
I think good music comes from the heart. That's my belief.
I picked up the guitar at 12 yrs old - basically, my mother and father bought it for me for Christmas. I played one at my friend's house; when I say played it, I just played around with it at my friend's house. It just struck me as something I really wanted.
Things like 'Lucky Man' were never written to even be a record, let alone a hit record.
You often hear people say 'Luck is self made.' I think it is, to a certain extent; if you work hard on something, you are more likely to be lucky than if you don't. That having been said, I do believe during in my career I have been at the right place at the right time with the right people.
