John Oates Quotes

Always try and play with as many people as possible, even if it's not your style of music, because you will learn a lot.

When I got out of the Nazz, I had it in my mind that simply to be eclectic was an important aspect of making music. It was something that I derived from The Beatles.

I'd written songs with lots of people, from one spectrum to the other.

Over the years, I played with a couple of spectacular guitar players, and playing with them has made me play better than I knew how to play. I hope the same thing is true with acting.

I've always worked on all different types of music, some with specific project goals and deadlines and some not. Sometimes I would write a piece of music that is almost like a film score or weird electro pieces, wherever the muse took me, and I still do that.

The best part of making music, for me, is collaborating and working with new people and fresh sounds and all those things that gets people excited to continue in this business that we all love so much.

Me as an artist, I've ventured off into doing all types of music. I'll do a jazz album, you know what I mean.

Everyone who makes music is a good collaborator at their foundation because in order to make music, you have to connect to it in a way that other people can't.

Being in a different band always brings great musical experiences to be able to draw on.

I kind of make music where and when I can, and I guess that's why I collaborate so much.

One of the things that's influenced me musically was my experience at Brown University. I was surrounded by musicians that I really admired, and felt challenged to come up with music, lyrics, and recordings that stood up to the expectations of those musicians and myself.

The more I come to understand music, the more I feel like a numbskull because there is always more to learn. The more I do it, the more I'm humbled. I'm just always trying to get better at it. I pick up a few tricks along the way.

You'll find little schools of musicians experimenting with different ways of making music in Brooklyn, all through Manhattan, in Queens, in Jersey, you know? The city is still bubbling with creativity.

Joining Modest Mouse was just consistent with what I used to do as a teenager: I followed where I thought I would make some interesting music.

My dream collaboration is with Lauryn Hill. Is that ever gonna' happen? Who knows! But there's still a lot I feel like musically I could do.

It is always an honor to work with those that share your passion for music and just enjoy making great music.

I think my music has always been a mixture, depending on whom I'm working with - what band, what musicians, what producer.

It's fun and super exciting to see how other people work, how other people write music, and how other people put things together. To me, it's an endless learning process, and I love doing it because everybody works so completely differently.

I'm very, very open to experimenting with different people and trying to find different methods of writing and making music.

Collaboration is part of what keeps me interested in music.

I try and approach other music with sensitivity. And, if it's music I don't know, I try and work with other people who are well-versed it in, so that it's done sensitively.

When we first started, and I jumped in this band, I was like, 'I'm not a singer.' I didn't go to school to sing. I just played to have fun. But these guys teach me, and they show me stuff and give me courage to try new stuff.

Black music has increased my enjoyment of what I do. It has increased my range, my ability to reach into myself and accept myself.

I sort of enjoy being able to hear what other composers are doing and how they might score something differently than me. I enjoy that part.

I enjoyed so much working with the guys from Wilco, and riffing off of them, and having someone come up to me with ideas, because normally in the studio it's me who has to come up with all the ideas.