Twitter helps me connect to the people who help make my music, or the cycle of an album, complete. Without them experiencing the music, it doesn't really exist, so it doesn't make sense to not involve them.
When I'm on stage, I know exactly where I am. It's not an ego thing or anything like that, but I am more in my body and aware of myself and aware of what I'm doing, and I feel more from that, from sharing the music.
I have to tell you that I love people. When I see the kids coming up and see what they have done with the music, it's amazing.
I love playing music, so I think the whole John Varvatos look is kind of cool. I think he has a great style.
I guess now music is so saturated and so microwaved. It's, like, 15 minutes in the microwave and boom, you've got something. Nobody's putting passion or any thought behind it anymore.
My main object is to write, to keep learning. I always try to perfect my composition. But I do like writing film and opera music. I believe that it fulfills the needs of particular situations.
What I'm after is a composed music that will sound like improvised music when improvisors play it. You shouldn't be able to tell what parts are being improvised and what parts were written out beforehand; it should sound like the same music.
There are moments when great music can be the greatest service and charity.
I've carved a different path which is not that affected by what happens in the bad side of politics. I've always surrounded myself with music and art and love and all those things - pleasures that are sort of immune from all that.
I'm into something that definitely does require your attention, and with that, you're not going to run out of things to do. You're never going to be the master of music.
One of the first people that believed in me, the first person to invest in my talent, me and this guy used to argue all the time in the studio, but at the end of the day, we both realized that we were after the same goal, and that was to make great music. And I'm talking about Eazy-E.
YouTube has changed my life in a huge way. I mean, I wouldn't be able to pursue music and do what I love each day if it wasn't for the YouTube platform and for the people who watch my videos and share them.
I have tons of music stashed.
Dancehall has always had a homophobic problem, but you go to dance parties in Jamaica, and some of the biggest dancers are kinda gay, just not outspoken about it. Dancehall was the first kind of music I was DJing, and it was always more about the rhythm.
I've always had influences from all over the place, like Mr. Bungle and Primus. As a band, we try not to focus too much on where it's coming from, because we're always listening to music.
I think I'm writing for an intelligent stranger - you know, in my mind I can't remember who coined that phrase first. I don't want to write anything that makes me cringe, first of all. I cringe a lot - mostly when I hear popular music.
Hip hop music is important precisely because it sheds light on contemporary politics, history, and race. At its best, hip hop gives voice to marginal black youth we are not used to hearing from on such topics.
Taylor's first four albums have been certified platinum a combined 21 times, but despite her unprecedented success in country music, '1989' is strictly pop.
The focus should be on the music and not my sexuality.
There's only one type of music and that's good music, no matter what genre it is.
It was in Delhi when I started doing jingles and making money through music.
The biggest compliments I've heard about 'That Metal Show' are the ones from people that say that they don't even listen to this kind of music, but, 'We love watching the show.'
Music's always been a big part of my life, but it kind of all happened in one big ball of storytelling rather than splitting acting and singing apart.
Music is always a creative process that comes from the heart. It's a feeling, a vibration, that we ride on.
When reggae was introduced to the world, it was a voice of the oppressed, a music with integrity that you can enjoy holistically. Throughout the years, what has become commercial kind of strayed from the integrity.
I grew up reading the 'Village Voice' and wanting to be one of these multidisciplinary music writers, film writers, book writers. And I lucked out getting a job at the 'Voice' right after college.
In World War II, jazz absolutely was the music of freedom, and then in the Cold War, behind the Iron Curtain, same thing. It was all underground, but they needed the food of freedom that jazz offered.
Textures apply to everything I do. Even within my music, I like smooth things, and then hard and fluffy things, all giving them their place to shine.
You can be a rapper born and raised in go-go music, violence, drugs, crack, Reagonomics, and still, if you hear 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,' you're going to find a way to hum along. Guilty pleasures? It don't matter. Sue me - I like the song. To dance to it is another matter.
Music - you need the give and take from the audience, the feeling of attention. It's not about me: it's about the music itself.
I do think I'm country, but your definition of that word might be different from my definition. In my opinion, country music, the sound of country, has always evolved. But the one thing that has not changed is the story element. And I think country songs are truthful songs about life written by country people.
There are parallels between the music and film worlds, but they're really very different. I feel like they're just two different ways to channel my creativity.
The world of music is changing so dramatically every day, the way people hear music. It's different. It's a new day and requires new thinking.
Music as a whole industry is growing exponentially, but in terms of the actual music file, when you look at the actual value there, to me, 'The Beatles' catalog should be worth more than Spotify.
Nothing is more gratifying as a Christian believer than being able to thread my faith and love for Jesus into my music.
When I decided to be a musician I reckoned that that was going to be the way of less profit, less money. I was sort of giving up the idea of making a lot of money. It was what I loved to do. I would have done it anyway. If I'd had to work at Taco Bell I'd have still been out at night trying to play music.
