Lee Ranaldo Quotes

I've never really been interested in doing a solo piano tour.

When I did the solo acoustic tour in 2010, I fell in love with that kind of performance.

One of my favorite venues is the Bowery Ballroom in New York. I love the room; there's a tiny stage, but I really like the feel of it.

I previously played King Tut's in Glasgow, which is one of my favourite gigs. It's really intimate.

I still play solo shows. And some of those shows are still some of the best, most gratifying shows.

Performance art can be produced in a coffee house setting.

My first gig was at Radio City Music Hall when I was 13.

There's something about small venues that's amazing for developing material. It's almost like you can not only hear people's response, but you can understand it. In bigger venues you lose that, but you gain this sense of camaraderie in the audience.

I love the smaller scenes. I love the smaller, slightly more theatrical scenes.

When I write, I'm sort of old-fashioned in the sense that I like to write something that I feel I could just perform alone, obviously, because I do that a lot in concert.

The focus is on singer/songwriters now rather than huge shows. I mean, of course there's always a place for that too.

I've asked to go back into theaters and smaller venues because to me, in smaller venues I can really demonstrate my commitment to quality. Theaters are great containers for music.

Stand-up is different from television. In stand-up, you've got to be in control.

I love playing the Hard Rocks; they've got a great stage, great lighting, great sound, and not so humongous; its more intimate, so we love playing theaters and clubs where the audience has a really good chance to see and hear the group and where the acoustics are good. I like it when we can hear what we're doing.

I've played Madison Square Garden and Jones Beach several times, but I personally don't enjoy those larger venues. I much prefer theater or a performance space.

There's nothing like the energy in a small comedy club room or a small theater when it's going really well. I can see everybody's face practically in the whole room. There's no cameras in the way, and it's just me.

But I really do have a soft spot for the solo shows. Any musician who writes and sings will tell you that's the center of it, that is it. It's almost like there's something church-like about it and you gotta go back there, if you're a songwriter that sings your material.

It was my first time in Kansas City. In about two or three days I had a gig at a place called The Monroe Inn.

'The Fever' is a one-person play. I decided I would perform it myself, and I decided I would not perform it in theaters, because the character in the play says certain things that I meant.

Everywhere in the world, music enhances a hall, with one exception: Carnegie Hall enhances the music.

In 2012 the best venue I played was Union Chapel in London. It's a beautiful room, the sound is exceptional, and they treated us very well.

I've never done a solo tour. I feel like getting out there and doing that.

I think beautiful independent films are made, and I think they're as close to what theater can be because they're not loaded with all of the extra stuff. It's human, and it's more organic, but theater is very unique... It's a different connection altogether.

One of the things I wanted to do with 'The Turn' was write a production of songs that could be stripped down to one or two instruments if you chose to do it.

It just doesn't get any more stripped down than going out totally alone and doing songs.