Ian MacKaye Quotes

A live album is a no-brainer.

It's hard sometimes to capture magic when it comes to live records.

I've always thought live albums were cop-outs.

We aren't as concerned about the live aspect as other labels. The best live bands are the easiest to record.

All the songs on the first album were like skeletons of how we really played them. It was just a combination of not having any studio experience and having to do everything so fast. I also think that studios are, by nature, limiting. You cannot get the sound of five big amplifiers on a little piece of tape.

And the general opinion is we are much better on stage than in the studio.

I love being in the studio, and I am a huge fan of live music. Without writing good stuff in the studio, you have nothing to play live.

If I have a song that I feel is really one of my best songs, I like it to have a formal studio recording because I believe that something being officially released on a studio record gives it a certain authority that it doesn't quite have if it comes out on a live album or is just a part of your show, you know.

The scary thing is when I did my set in Texas everyone was excited. The show was great. I was done and the next DJ put something on vinyl and the difference! The quality!!

We always record with the whole band. That's key to capturing the feel, especially trying to get a good basic track.

A lot of times, when you record something, the album becomes less about the music and more technical.

So many bands play to tracks - what's the point in coming to see them live if they're playing to a CD?

For 'Rock On,' we not only acted as rock musicians; we also went into the studio to record songs and jammed live to get the concert feel right.

This was the rule that I had when we made 'Frampton Comes Alive!': being known as a live performer, I'm not going to go into the studio and overdub.

I enjoy going on stage knowing that there's going to be that vulnerability and that transparency and hopefully things will be realized or accomplished or that confidence will be revealed. I think that's another element that people like about shows: in addition to hearing the songs that they love, I think there are some people who really get off on connecting with what's happening right now.

I begged her to write a song and she said yes. I am a huge Regina Spektor fan. I think she's a genius and just a lovely soul, and I wanted her voice on it. And she agreed, which is just the coolest thing, ever. She knocked it out of the park.

I think when you're making an album, as the songs are piling up, one of the good things about it is that you will often write the song that you need.

I don't think I'd be able to flat-out write a pop song and make it satisfying to me. I'm ready to make a consistent sound in whatever way I can.

I enjoy recording live better, but I think by the nature of it you are going to end up with something that's a little bit more traditional.

I want to make the songs good. I think this is my main focus.

I enjoyed singing, I loved song writing, I loved recording. All those things that involves with creating music was great.

There's so much more subtlety to this new recording. There's a subtlety in the playing. There's also a subtlety in the way I approached the singing. The band was able to really capture the feeling of the songs and not really trade anything that we had sort of arranged for the live presentation, but the songs just aren't as loud.

It's good when someone says, "Would you write a song for this purpose," or "would you record a song for this purpose," or "would you help me realize this song," again, for this purpose.

I think, sometimes, artists release music too fast. If you just sit back and listen to the track for a little bit you could pick and choose how you want to do it and see if you really feel the song, because sometimes you might not even like the song after a few listens.

There's nothing worse than a good video and good song, and you see a band and hate them because they can't perform. That's wack.