Ryan Ross Quotes

So it was out of necessity that Blackheart was born. I think it's great that now, 25 years later, we're not only putting out our own music, but are able to put out music by other bands. That's really exciting for us.

I've done two albums for Concord Records; one was with Al Jarreau and it did very well for us. The second album was called 'Songs And Stories,' and it had good songs and good performances, but I promised them I would do an album that was more jazz-oriented.

I've always wanted to release records in America. That's where I believe the music belongs, and the style and the eclectic musical mix that we put together kind of belongs here.

Every album I've ever been involved in, on the day that it came out I believed in it.

Having a solo career is a funny thing.

I want to figure out what kind of artist I want to be, because with the 'American Idol' process, it just works really fast. The night of the finale, they said, 'OK, here are all the label people that you're gonna work with, this is the album you're gonna make and blah, blah, blah.' So it was a pretty fast process, but it's been cool.

I want to sell out arenas and make an album and work with some of the best artists in the world.

Yeah, I came in at the end of the Notorious album, played on about five tracks and then we went on a tour. Then we did another album, Big Thing, and then we started writing songs together in 1989.

Bad Religion took a long time to develop into gold-record-status artists. Along the way we learned and applied our knowledge, and Atlantic helped us every step of the way, since 1993.

U2 albums never get finished. They just get released.

There will be a Jussie Smollett album. I signed to Columbia. So, darling, I'm label mates with Beyonce and Adele and Barbra Streisand.

It's about finding great artists and being part of their careers.

We had been working. We had a bunch of songs written and it came time to make the record, so we had our lawyer make the call to Elektra and ask for our advance. Then, we got dropped. It was actually exciting.

I've literally never seen a crowd react to a band the way they react to the Polysics. Signing them to MySpace Records was an obvious choice. I wanted to be the person to bring this seasoned band to a new culture and audience. I'm really proud of them.

I don't think the label makes the artist or the artist makes the label. It's the music that makes everything work or not.

There's a system in place in Nashville, and for a long time, I was trapped in this idea that the only way to do it was to come to town, get a record deal, and do it the way they say. And that system works. But it caters to a specific kind of artist, and I didn't necessarily fit that mold.

When I first started, I wasn't really aware of anything in the industry or aware of who I really was. I just put my music out there and tried to get as many people to hear it as possible. I hadn't really thought about the kind of music I wanted to make.

We were definitely new to the whole music thing. The first album was a real collaborative effort between us, the writers, and the A&R people at Columbia Records. We really worked to find out what our sound was.

I'll always work with Stones Throw, but I'm trying to start my own label to release my old material and sign new artists. I want to do everything from rock, to jazz, to electronic, to noise records and movie sound tracks. Both sampled and original music.

I love doing third albums. A group makes its first album, and then the record company rushes them into the studio to make their second album. After that, they go, 'Whoa, wait a second.' They get a little more confident. They step back and say, 'Okay, now we're gonna do it.'

I knew Chester. I've known Chester since 2001. I was in a band called Dry Cell, and we were signed by the same guy that signed Linkin Park, so that's how I knew him. He would come to some of our writing sessions and rehearsals; I'd see him in the studios that we were at.

I run an independent company, Knockout Entertainment. We've always come out with records that had a concept that impacted really, really, really hard.

I'm not a Soundcloud rapper anymore.

With the first album, there was a lot of angst. I was very naive. I thought I was on top of the whole thing, but I really didn't know what I was getting into.

For the first 12 years of recording I would finish the album, then on the day it came out I'd never hear the songs again.