Vinnie Paul Quotes

We played some gigs in Switzerland a couple of weeks ago and it was the first time I really felt the group was really a band in the sense of something I could write for.

By the time The Band did The Last Waltz, the chemistry had changed, and it wasn't a thrill anymore to live that studio kind of life.

The way Yes works is when we have a new member come in, as in Jon Davison, it's appropriate that we see what differences we can get out of a new contributing member in order to keep Yes interesting.

There's been a progression in my sound.

It started off with me being all the way influenced by Atlanta and southern music but I knew my sound had to grow - I started learning melodies.

When we recorded 'Iowa,' we jammed, we went through the songs, we played as a band and we recorded as a band.

We've gotten better as a live band. The songs have been allowed to grow with our audience. I don't think I would have done it any other way.

We'll see some simplistic players for a while, who'll then get into more complicated things and evolve with their instruments. This is a cycle that happens over and over again in music.

A Tribe Called Quest was one of those things where it was supposed to be about growth. When I say 'growth,' I don't just mean with our sound or our product, but Tribe was supposed to grow as individuals.

Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy's playing blues like we play, he's in high school. When he starts playing jazz it's like going on to college, to a school of higher learning.

What I was going for in the first two albums I didn't necessarily achieve. Because I was young and because it was my first time out. And the second album was such a 'quickie' sort of 'Let's just get it over with!' But the kind of music I make, there's a lot of subtlety in it. And I think it takes a couple of listens to actually really get it.

I think that every band tries to mature their sound through their existence, you know?

The Pleasure Seekers eventually turned into Cradle, when we started writing our own material. My younger sister Nancy was brought in as singer and I kind of stepped aside as main lead singer and concentrated on my instrument.

Any band on their first couple records is just trying to keep up with their inspiration.

When I started writing music on the guitar, it started off very folky because of my limited ability to play. It was slow, soft melodies. But then, as I got better on the guitar, I started exploring different sounds.

I think one of the things about writing in the studio is that the song hasn't matured, if you like, so quite often the vocals are early attempts. Whereas once you've taken it out on the road a bit, you learn more about a song.

So, I just kind of played the way I played and then eventually we kind of figured out what worked best for the band. So, I definitely changed my stuff up and I think we're playing really tight now.

Everytime we put a record out, we lose people that can't deal with the growth.

I think when you follow a band, you're following a - and I don't like to use the term 'brand,' but you are following a kind of style, if you like. So I think you have to accept that there will be different people involved from time to time.

Each album has its own cycle. We wanted to capture all those feelings and moments for this touring cycle.

By the time I did that third solo album, I'd finally learned how to do it, but I'd also learned that I liked being in a band.

We became friends as we became a band. Our friendship evolved as the band evolved. It had its ups and downs, but it was mostly ups for the four of us. We got along well almost all of the time. Hey! We liked each other and we still do.

All the bands get along really well. That's one of the biggest things on a tour. It's great to get all these cool bands together, but if they don't get along it sucks.

The first album, for better or for worse, was done over from the ages of 17-22, with a couple of different producers. Some of it was recorded in an old swimming pool, some of it was recorded in a synagogue - it kind of was all over the place.

If anyone saw Fall Out Boy's first 400 shows, we were the worst band of all time.