Tom Curren Quotes

The reason we did 'Land of a Thousand Dances' and 'Gloria' on 'Horses' was because I liked repetitious, three-chord rock songs, but I didn't understand that I could write my own. I didn't realize that you could use those chords a million times.

If I was going to do Fall Out Boy, I wanted it to be a real outlet for my writing.

Growing up, I was inspired by The Beatles and Bob Dylan. Damian Rice was a huge influence for me musically.

Everything we release with Tool is inspired by our music.

I spent many years trying to write a lot like Ben Folds or John Lennon or Rivers Cuomo. I think that's healthy when you're learning to write and seeing how chords fit together and how songs take shape.

All I really wanted to do was make an album that was going to be just back to what I like to do... And it was a coincidence that these new bands, this new wave of bands, were doing Alice and Iggy rock.

We wrote the songs we wrote - we took from our own experiences, melded it together, and wrote what became 'Appetite For Destruction.'

I couldn't write an AC/DC song. I don't know how to do that.

Rilo Kiley was a rock band, so I wanted my solo records to feel different.

There's many, many ways to write a song. But generally, sitting down at a table and writing is not one of them.

I may like the Blizzard best, of all the songs I have written.

It's definitely an influence, I mean how can you not say you are influenced to play rock.

I don't really know that there's any real rules for songwriting.

But KISS inspired me personally to pick up a guitar and go for it.

I found a sound that people really liked - I found this basic concept and all I did was change the lyrics and the melody a little bit. My songs, if you listen to them, they're quite a lot alike, like Chuck Berry.

I like to come up with the melodies, and I have a lot of ideas as far as structure goes.

The biggest influence? I've had several at different times - but the biggest for me was Bob Dylan, who was a guy that came along when I was twelve or thirteen and just changed all the rules about what it meant to write songs.

No matter what I do, my songs come out in a certain style, and if that sounds like Dead Kennedys, then there's probably a reason for it. Don't forget, I wrote most of those songs, music and lyrics.

I always start with the music and then try to figure out what I want to write about lyrically.

Rock n' roll is dream soup, what's your brand?

I probably belong to a type of composer of songs who keeps thinking about melody... I am old fashioned.

I wanted to write songs which I think is a different thing. I wanted to write music that is informed by folk music. The chord progressions are obvious references.

Right now, musically I'm inspired by everyday people.

Everything that I do on stage comes from seeing the Black Crowes in '95 in Charlotte. For 'Let Her Cry,' I was just trying to write 'She Talks to Angels.'

John Mayer would be my ultimate collaboration because he's just the man. He has basically captured all I believe in with music.