Pat Mastelotto Quotes

See, there were certain rules I'd always used, and people like Trane, they would break those rules.

I didn't really know what I was doing when I started. I just started writing songs. After two songs I just continued to explore it.

Musically, I always wanted to experiment.

Music is like cooking for me: you mix the ingredients together in one big pan and see how they end up. Through experimenting, you find what you really like and stick with it.

When I was in the marching band, I used to take my snare drum and turn it over and use my drumstick and scratch on the other side. That was just being creative.

One thing people always ask me is 'How do you play outside?' ... I have no idea how to teach that, but when I was discussing this with our bass player Jesse Murphy, he said 'tell them to go cliff diving'... In other words, when you're jamming, you have to take risks if you want to find new sounds.

What I have to do as a musician is do everything that is not on the music.

It's so wide; that's what I love most about my career. It's been varied, and the music has been varied, because I find myself getting bored pretty easily. So for me, to work in the studio has been great. I didn't go on the road; I just worked on a different project every day, a different kind of music, and that's the challenge I love.

I've always done very 'composed' music and worked-out solos. But sometimes it's fun not knowing where you're going.

Phish is such a good band; they just make stuff up as a jam band.

I got a chance to work with Miles Davis, and that changed everything for me, 'cause Miles really encouraged all his musicians to reach beyond what they know, go into unknown territory and explore. It's made a difference to me and the decisions that I've made over the years about how to approach a project in this music.

This band makes sure that we have whole sections of stuff that are free form so that they don't know what we are doing next, that is the fun part of playing. You are playing something that you haven't ever played before.

We have always wanted to write songs and be experimental in that way.

Every day I look forward to getting with my instruments, trying new things.

We have no general conceptual thrust for the band, other than trying to make music that keeps our interest. When things are novel, they are probably things we have discovered by accident or investigation rather than by design.

I think probably with any performer, but maybe with rock music especially, the audience wants to see the singer being real, and exploring, and not doing a rehearsed routine, so I'm just constantly looking for new things to try. I'm really curious out there, and my curiosity has led me into all kinds of bizarre situations.

One thing I liked about 'Silver Bell' is that I barely knew how to play in the tuning I was writing in, and I just went for it anyway.

When you're sitting in the basement trying to get on, you have no choice - you've gotta figure out how to make a song: 'I've gotta bang on these buttons until it sounds good.'

Some of my best songwriting choices started as mistakes or learning curves, when I accidentally hit a 'wrong' key or something. I try not to lose that the more I learn the how's and why's of piano.

If you're always playing the correct notes, there's something wrong - you're not searching; you're not reaching for anything.

I play the drums, I love to sing. I'll make a beat anywhere - on the wall, on the floor - and I can have fun doing just about anything.

All of my solos were improvised initially - I would go in and get my bearings and see what I came up with.

We all have to open our minds, stretch forth, take chances and venture out musically to try and arrive at something new and different.

I was playing with sound like I would have played with pots and pans as a kid.

There are no wrong notes.