My first band, Kid Wicked, we did half covers and half originals.
Had I joined a straight rock band, I'm sure my drumming would be a little bit different right now.
I feel really lucky to be in a band where the guys, for all the opportunities to do things that potentially would be good for them but detrimental to the group, that everybody stayed loyal to the whole.
Mick says, Would you join the band? I say to him, Mick, you know I'd be there in a New York minute.
To me, when a great band is playing together, it's amazing for me.
I was the first guy to join the band with Hendrix.
I played trombone for 10 minutes, and then I was in an accordion band in school for even less.
My real priorities were my family - my kids and Bruce - and my work with the E Street Band.
I didn't realize Metallica was as big as they were. I just thought it was my buddy Kirk's band - we went to high school together. I wasn't really following metal.
I love the idea of stepping out of the band situation into a solo world with no boundaries, no expectations, where nothing is out of bounds.
When we're ready to do the dress rehearsal, we'll rehearse in the dark. No lights. The reason why I do that is because I don't want the band to rely on me for anything. 'Cause anything can happen - I might stop singing or unplug the mic, just so everybody knows: Keep going, no matter what.
The only thing that's really riled me up in the last ten years has been the White Stripes. That's the one band that's gotten me competitive, and that's good.
I think Alison Krauss and her band are the best today. The same goes for Rick Skaggs and his band.
Ben was more improvisational, and relied less on methodology, and basically is a guitarist who switched to bass, whereas Jeff has a more traditional approach to playing bass in a band, and has a great sense of what his band sounds like, and we lock up nicely.
At the art college in Edinburgh someone arranged for some London groups to come up and play. I was in a supporting band, with Bernie Green I think. Derek Bailey was one of the visiting musicians. He seemed to like my playing and asked me to come down to London.
Being a songwriter does not rely on an audience or other band members or a camera. I can just sit in a room and write songs.
Because, first of all, we were becoming aware during that tour that there was a group of people that was following the band around, and they weren't interested in coming in to the shows, they were just interested in hangin' out outside and tryin' to break in.
When we moved to Seattle, everybody kind of disappeared into different corners of the city and it was a very difficult time for the band.
My son's taking drum lessons, and my daughter's taking piano lessons. One day they're going to start a band.
When we did a lot of that Motown stuff there were four of us on the front line. When we started the evening we'd start from one end of the band and just go along. The lead singer would change all the time. That's the first time that I actually managed to put it into a record.
I see myself as the buffer between the band and the record company.
I'd always thought the Rats were good fun, but one of the very nice things about being of Saga age is that I can actually look back and think, When I was younger I was in a great band. It was always a collective thing.
It's like that with what sort of ideas people outside of the band have of HIM. They all see it through a different lens as well which is beautiful. Hopefully, it makes it an endless topic of conversation.
There was no way we were going to let this band hobble around on three legs. We chose the route that every professional actor, athlete and musician should do - leave the legend intact and bow out at the top.
I joke that we're not dissimilar to a rock band in the '70s.
It feels like being in a band is a luxury now: like you can only do it if you're signed really early or you come from a wealthy family.
We're not a political band. We don't want to tell people what to do or what to think. We just want to tell them to think.
I was in one bar band from 1965 to '69, then I was in another one from 1970 to '79 - a 9-year bar band!
I'm not a big fan of lead vocalists, people who sing but don't play. I never wanted to be in a band where the guy who was up front just sang. I've always thought it better when one of the musicians sings, like Steve Winwood.
I don't want to paint myself as some villain - I was never a bad guy doing horrible things, but I got too caught up in wanting a very specific thing to happen to the band. Ultimately, I had to find the ability in myself to get over that and stop being so stringent and learn to laugh a little bit more.
I've always loved the mixture of crushing live drums with a programmed groove, that really cool blend, like in the verse there's a really funky drum beat that is programmed then it comes in to the chorus; you've got that enormous human feel where the band kicks in.
I think my most famous was 'Poco's Legend.' It's a white album with a simple line drawing of a horse. It almost has a Picasso feel to it. I remember that Rusty Young, the lead singer of the band, said, 'I want you to draw a horse for the song 'Legend,' which is about a phantom spirit horse. I want you to do it in several lines.'
In 'thinking up' music I usually have some kind of a brass band with wings on it in back of my mind.
As a solo artist, I just felt cemented in front of the mike stand. There was very little time to play with the audience and be a band member.
Festivals are great because you get to just walk around the corner and see a new band that you've heard but not had the chance to check out.
I do a lot of curiosity buying; I buy it if I like the album cover, I buy it if I like the name of the band, anything that sparks my imagination.
