Billy Sherwood Quotes

I always want harmony within the band. I want it to work.

When you're part of an ensemble and share the screen with so many people, you become close to them because you're hanging out all the time. Obviously you have your ups and downs, but that kind of brings you closer in many ways.

And touring is difficult when everybody's heads aren't in the same place.

I think I used to do everything and then people had a problem with that within the band, so we're doing more of a communal thing.

Fleetwood Mac was one big lesson in adaptation for me. There were five very different personalities, and I suppose that made it great for a while.

I've never really been too fussed about the kind of teammate I have.

It's important to tour with bands that you get along with.

In a nine-piece-band is one guy gonna call up eight guys and have a 45-minute discussion about every decision? No. So things are a lot more democratic in Stone Sour. Plus, we're closer and it's a lot easier to communicate. In Slipknot that's the big problem - communication.

Everyone wants the same thing in this band, so we definitely respect each other. I mean, all of us have had hit songs, so it's a band full of people who really know what they're talking about, so you have to respect that even when you think something you have might be great, and they go, 'Man, it's not as great as you think it is.'

Most bands don't work out. A small unit democracy is very, very difficult.

We started this band as kids, and as time has gone on, we've grown and are learning to accommodate each others' differences.

Climbing has worked for me in a number of ways on Capitol Hill. I'm much more inclined to look at what people do, as opposed to what they say. Also, it's about working together - we're all on the rope together, and you don't get to cut the rope if you're not getting along with someone.

I played on teams with 24 guys pulling the rope one way and one guy pulling the other. I've seen how destructive it can be. I tell them, 'If 13 of you are insanely successful and one fails, we all lose.'

I love collaborating with people.

With Pearl Jam, everybody is so good at what they do, it's hard to get up the courage to say, Can I sing this part, or, I want to play guitar. I feel like I have more courage to do that.

You can have the best people in the business, but if they're not collaborating - and they're butting heads - then it's all going to go south.

This band has never had an argument. It's just amazing.

As far as I can see there are no problems with people in our band as far as the relationships go anyway.

When you form a team, why do you try to form a team? Because teamwork builds trust and trust builds speed.

Being in a band is a really magical thing because you've got a family and you operate as this one entity. It's very democratic; everyone is involved in the output. But within that, there can be a lot of disagreements and strife.

Anytime you get nine people together, whether it's at a party or it's in the conference room of the Supreme Court, you do have to maintain some order, or it does kind of degenerate into squabbling pretty quickly.

When you're on tour you definitely don't want lots of arguments. It's very important that everybody gets on because you're in close proximity a great deal of the time.

Fame and all that type of stuff is inevitable, but I'm very content having a good band with no negativity, and everyone is on the same page.

No matter whether you are new or an old team member, you need time to adjust to one another.

If you can laugh together, you can work together.