Even if you’re improvising, the fact that beforehand you know certain things will work helps you make those improvisations successful. It really helps to have a certain amount of knowledge about musical structure.
I am a ham. I’ve no business being rock ‘n’ roll. I’ve said it over and over again that I’m a classical composer, dishevelling my personality by dabbling in rock ‘n’ roll.
In cities like New York and Austin, there’s much more of a social context for music than in other places.
If I’m interested in what I’m doing, other people will be interested in it.
We gave up on the idea of trying to make the record a good representation of the live performance.
It would be a stronger world, a stronger, loving world, to die in.
I like it here in New York. I like the idea of having to keep eyes in the back of your head all the time.
I learn from thinking about the future, what hasn’t been done yet. That’s kind of my constant obsession.
What I enjoy most about being on stage is that the natural instruments give you a greater freedom with texture. When you use natural instruments they have their own resonance.
When somebody grabs a movement, you’re kind of locked into it. It’s all par for the course.
That’s what my life is, writing songs.
People sort of know me for that solo piano music I did.
I like what the future holds. I don’t like thinking about the past.
I’m writing a movie about Mozart going to New York in the ’60s. I’ve been reading so many novels.
I’m impatient. I get twitchy. When I get that feeling I just go out and make something happen.
I want to get lean and mean, keep it minimalist.
Growing up in Wales was a pretty Draconian experience with religion.
The value of having a computer, to me, is that it’ll remember everything you do. It’s a databank.
In the studio you have pretty much carte blanche with whatever you’re doing. You can turn natural instruments into electronic instruments.
I’m content with making records, but I don’t want to be doing the same thing all the time.
I never use the word, it’s loaded. What love means to me is need.