Mike Gordon Quotes

To me, there's two types of songs, good and bad. And I just like to stick with the good ones.

You can have the best riff in the world, but if the drums behind it just ain't vibing it, it's not gonna be the greatest riff, right? So you've gotta have someone there that can really bring that to life.

There are songs I really enjoy playing. I like playing "Say It" live because it's a long jam, kind of like shoegaze, so I do enjoy that.

A bad song, the three best singers in the world cannot save it, and that's the bottom line.

You get this really cool groove when you're playing just piano, bass, and drums where everyone's sort of feeling each other's space, which is the only way to put it, but it really is true, and everyone's sort of sitting in their own pocket. It's kind of jazz-like.

I've covered Avril Lavigne. I like good pop songs, and I don't think there should be any kind of preconceptions about where good pop songs come from.

But that kind of falls in line; when you think about it, James Brown was a funk minimalist. All of those parts create a sum that's larger than than the individual parts.

One of my favorites has always been 'Swap Meet.' One of the reasons why I like that is it's a song that's in a drop-D tuning, and of course, also being a guitar player, it's one of the songs that I really like the riff on it.

An important part of being in a band is the rhythm section.

I don't think you ever get tired of the well-written, well-crafted songs.

I wanted to write songs that were as good as the covers.

You know what, I am not gonna lie, that Taylor Swift 'Trouble' song? I can't resist that song. Her melodies are very catchy.

To me and my band, guitar riffs are what it's all about. We know that every time we jam on a great riff, we've got a fighting chance of writing a great song!

I play like I play. You hear it on 'Celebration Day.' It's pretty good for a one-night shot.

I think it's down to our songs - we've always made sure every song on every album works.

I do like playing music with other people.

If I hear music that has a hole in it and has a space for me to fit in, I go for that stuff.

I love melody more than any other part of music.

To me, I always felt like drums have to be the support and the driving factor in a song, and there's places where the drummer has to show off and do things and get the spotlight, but not all the time. You've gotta pick and choose. And it's always gotta be about the song. That's really the bottom line.

It's different obviously with a song when you're talking about narrative, you're talking about the verse leading into the chorus or whatever it is, but you have to have a sensibility of how something would flow either way.

I definitely like to go out and dance. I'm a big vibe person when it comes to music so a song really has to make me feel a certain way in order for me to fall in love with it.

If you listen to the radio for a whole hour there's maybe one decent song. The rest is mass-produced garbage

Sometimes, if a song is written, in essence, to be that stripped down, it's very touchy when you start adding things, because even the smallest thing can have a huge impact. Somebody has to make the decision that there's a better song in there if there's less.

I would play all the parts of the song, show them the way it went together. Then I'd basically break down an arrangement - I wouldn't plan endings or beginnings - so they knew everything that was going on. I had the lyrics on a prompter so that I could remember everything I'd written, and I was able to just get into the groove and play with them. I think "Peace Trail" is one of the exceptions, where it's a later take. It just happened really quickly.

Melodies are very important in a song. Having a great melody and a great hook. That's what I would always come up with a great melody and that's important.