Mike D Quotes

The Fat Mattress consisted of people I'd played with before joining the 'Experience and it was put together as a song writing situation.

There was absolutely no intention of splitting up. We had so many great ideas to use on the new album. John Paul Jones was incredible, coming to the studio each day with new instruments to play.

The stuff we did under the name the Rentals got so chaotic.

I'm thinking about starting a solo project. But it will feature Tyler on all the songs. We'll call it something like 'Two Music Boys.'

I thought it would be fun to write a song where a bunch of my favorite guitarists contributed, so I started 'Valley of Fire.'

There's been no two Dirty Projectors records that have had the same cast of characters every time.

With Freebass, there were no rules, really. It was all rather chaotic. Obviously, Hooky was playing the high end stuff, which he always does; Mani was doing the bottom end, and I thought I'd go midway and meet everyone in the middle.

When I listen to music, there's usually some aspect of that music that I like, and that's what I take and try to bring into my own music. Bringing in other musicians to collaborate with is a good way for me to test out new ways or make music that I might have not discovered on my own.

We want to connect all these musical worlds together. We just improvise; we know straight away if its going to work or not. They're not covers - I hate the word cover. We do a transcription: mix it up, put our own spin on it. I think people will be surprised how powerful our show is.

Willow and I definitely talked about doing a collaboration. She really loves rock music, so she wants to come on and get crazy with me on a track. Which I would love, because she has a fantastic voice.

I mean, I think I liked every band I ever played in because each band was different, each band had a different concept, and each band leader was different... different personalities and musical tastes.

It was actually my partner, Bernard Edwards, who helped me develop my sort of funky jazz style.

But it can be hard to experiment when you're in a band.

I was playing in other rock bands. Any of those bands didn't last long.

After moving to England I did some recording and eventually formed an English band, this was together for quite a few years with only a keyboard replacement. The band had no name, just my name.

This band - because this is myself on electric and acoustic guitars - we've done three tours together now and I really, really like it which is why I did the DVD as well.

When we played with the Rollins Band, we'd keep songs going until we felt like ending it.

The way Yes works is when we have a new member come in, as in Jon Davison, it's appropriate that we see what differences we can get out of a new contributing member in order to keep Yes interesting.

I think my music has always been a mixture, depending on whom I'm working with - what band, what musicians, what producer.

If you're playing with a number of people, there are all sorts of textures, all kinds of possibilities you can get into. So why just play a theme together and then take solos?

The goal of serious musicians is to play outside of yourself. That's most likely with people who suggest things that are outside your musical experience.

There were a certain amount of people that were down with me, and we would just sit in the room and make music.

In all of my years in this business, I've always been part of either a progressive band or a metal band.

I've always had influences from all over the place, like Mr. Bungle and Primus. As a band, we try not to focus too much on where it's coming from, because we're always listening to music.

When you get new people around you, the excitement is new because they have different take on your music. They play it in a different way, and that's always exciting to be around. It elevates everybody onstage.