Mark Lanegan Quotes

A strong concept is the most important thing in creating a record. When you can listen to it and see a whole movie in your head, that's what separates an instrumental album from a beat tape.

I really just tried to make a record full of great songs, which is the goal I always have.

I would start seeing, in just the sense I was saying now, the kind of record it was going to be and what the arrangement demands, and what my vocal part should be in the record. This was all emerging as the song was emerging.

I jump into the process, and the record begins to gel at some point. Then I begin to get a picture of where I'm going. But it's not always something I know on the front-end.

It's really important to me that the songs not only stand out individually but work as a full body of work, too.

I remember I heard it in an interview with Michael Jackson one day, saying the art is gone, everybody makes records just to make a record. See, I always want the artist that try to build a whole body of music on one album, so you can enjoy it. So you could say, 'I went with him here, I went with him here.'

Because somebody plays guitar, why does it mean they need a singer? Because people already have this image of things? No, I'll put my music together, then think about whether I need to embellish it with a singer.

I need a big picture. I can't just do a collection of songs; that doesn't work for me.

I wanted to make an album that plays from the top to bottom and feels together and complete. That's just something that felt important.

When it comes to music, I am a dictator. Making a Dirty Projectors record come to life is like making a movie; I'm the one that makes the picture, and then we all figure out how to realise it.

I've waited for the day my debut album is released my entire life, so naturally I've designed it to be listened to from start to finish - so every song flows into each other in a way that tells a sonic story.

The thing is, Mac Miller wrote all of 'Divine Feminine.' That was a great album.

When I started making music I wanted it to have a narrative and be conceptual, but as time went on I thought it was probably more practical for a first album just to have good music.

I generally prefer to come in to the studio with a fully written song and then work on the arrangement with the band. Sometimes even the arrangements are pretty much already worked out in my head, but other times we experiment.

I've been composing and performing for as long as I can remember.

For me, I think of 'Dope' as an album. There may be a love song and there may be a party song, but it's all coming from one artist.

I'd always envisioned 'The Big Beat' leading off 'The Tale of the Tape' with the biggest drumbeat the rock world had ever heard. I knew I had something good… but I had no idea just how good.

Most of the parts are really gone over and over and over again with Tool. It's a very composed situation. We spend weeks if not months working on all those songs. There's not much room for improvisation.

Of course, I go into the studio with all the words written down.

Let Me Love You' is one of my favorite records from my catalogue. It's one of those songs that just happened magically.

I've got stories on every one of my albums, big ones.

My most prized possession would have to be 'Trick It.' I did rap here and there with some songs before, but 'Trick It' was my first time challenging myself to write lyrics from beginning to end.

I work on music with different people, and I work on music on my own. That's my life.

'Dangerous' is an album that I was very dedicated to. I wanted every song to be a hit.

Me and Tory Lanez got good chemistry together. We could make a song so easy, but we always like to figure out what we're really doing. We can make a good song, but it gotta make sense.