John Scofield Quotes

I pretty much built a band out of the most incredible guys I could possibly find. I didn't really want a six-piece band, but it just ended up being a six-piece band because these guys are all awesome.

With Sleater-Kinney, we did a lot of improvisation in our live shows, and even our process of songwriting involved bringing in disparate parts and putting them together to form something cohesive.

Usually I write the songs at home and then I bring them in to the band; when we play them as a band, that's kinda how we figure out the feel of how they're going to be presented on the record or live.

When we were in the studio working stuff out, and even when we were on stage, the music was a priority.

Songs can click together really quickly, and other times, they're really laborious and heavy-lifting.

I write the music, produce it and the band plays within the parameters that I set.

Plus, we spend most of our time writing music. Most of the time is spent in the studio in my house.

I'm not really gonna stop. We've got so much stuff to do, so many songs we talked about, so many things to record.

I think it's his perception of knowing how to make a record build, keeping the integrity of the song in the music and really adding a lot of musical elements to compliment my voice and to compliment the song.

I wrote 'Actor' all on the computer. I didn't touch any instruments until I was in the studio. So while I had all these ornate arrangements, I didn't have any songs.

I don't know if they were all functioning, but I did play in a bunch of bands.

I've composed a fair amount in my life, and some of them have made it on to the screen, some compositions that I've done, a few. And I like doing that. I had never really considered doing a full-length thing. I've worked with other people creating full-length pieces.

I sit and write songs alone and then get together with people to help me flesh it out into a recording.

He wanted to play accordion on something of mine and I said you can play accordion, but I want you to play piano and organ on some stuff. He came over a couple times a week for two weeks and gave me therapy as to whether I should do The Thorns or not.

We love great melodies and great songs that have great hooks and melodies, so we start a little bit more on that side as opposed to other people that start more lyric-based. Sometimes we'll do it the other way.

If you want me to work with you, then come with an idea. Come with music.

The original 'Don't Let It Get to You' started with a beat. The drums came first. All the musical and lyrical elements were written over those drums.

I love collaborating because I come from the world of being in bands.

The way that I write is I just write a ton of music in the background of my life, and then I just bring it into rehearsal. It's, like, 'Okay, guys. It goes like this. Let's smooth it out.'

Music is what I do pretty much all the time. I'm always in the studio. I'm always rehearsing for shows. Always doing shows.

There's the drums, the music, the melodies, the lyrics, the production, the artwork: there are so many elements to making an album, and the drumming is just a very small fraction of what I focus on.

Usually, I write the music and am involved in the production.

As a songwriter, I've always loved to tell stories. But in my band, it was always about what would make sense for a band to put out.

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.

We're always in the studio pretty much, either at home or on the road, trying to come up with new ideas and stuff.