Mike McCready Quotes

I don't think DIY is something that necessarily comes to mind when people hear Third Eye Blind, but that is completely how we've been from the beginning.

I loved Fugazi, the D.C. hardcore band, because they always did everything themselves. They had their own label, and the CDs always cost nine dollars, the T-shirts always cost eight dollars, the shows always cost five dollars, no major label.

Even though we're not the most punk rock band, the way we've done things is pretty punk rock. Just kinda say it with a big middle finger to the record labels and do it ourselves.

What I learned from the Beastie Boys was to be independent. They set up their own world separate from the label. They built their own studio.

The Linux philosophy is 'Laugh in the face of danger'. Oops. Wrong One. 'Do it yourself'. Yes, that's it.

I think one of the most important things punk brought back was the whole concept of staying independent and doing things yourself. It made music a lot less boring in any category you can name.

I'm very organized and tidy in my home life and I generally do something myself rather than farm it out to somebody else. I don't have an assistant or anything because I think I can do it myself.

I came out of UCB and, before that, punk rock, and the whole deal was you do it yourself. Get up and rent the space, get up and press your own records, get up and silkscreen your own tees, get it done yourself. That sort of self-reliance will only serve me. Any time I lose sight of that, my career suffers.

When I was coming up, I was, and am, producing, mixing, mastering, and writing everything. I would say that all the time. For one, self-sufficiency is a message that should be put out there: you don't have to outsource everything. Two, I'm proud of it.

I hate handing over money to people for doing what I could just as easily do myself, it makes me nervous.

Buy less, choose well & do it yourself!

When you come from the wrestling world, you are taught to do everything for yourself: market yourself, plan for yourself, design for yourself.

So I always respected the guys who were trying to do it on their own without taking a handout from a big organization. They were trying to create their own thing, the DIY style, which is sort of always been my style, kind of a makeshift survival mode and really just kind of forging your own path.

Yes, I worked hard to put together an experimental show on a budget of zero. But I was not being exploited by anyone. I was in charge.

Anyone can put anything out at any point and make anything by themselves.

I'm not in the business of telling people 'DIY or die,' but I do think it's important to be as hands-on with what you're doing as possible.

I've always been taught to never wait for somebody to give me the opportunity, but to create opportunity for myself.

From a strictly business perspective, it's like, 'Even if you leave Eric alone, he'll do stuff. He puts his own album together, he gets his own gigs, he does everything on TV. Let him be, he's fine.'

It's always better to make a hero than lean on one. My goal is to emulate China in the filmmaking business, not Los Angeles.

I had been an independent entrepreneur from the beginning, and I felt I could do it myself. I didn't want to get a job.

When we first started playing shows, we were all 17. Everybody started somewhere. There were guys throwing shows in condemned houses and backyards just for the love of music and for the love of what bands were standing for.

I don't have to worry about what the average record company person thinks because I am the record company person.

I'm very true to the old punk ethics of honesty and truthfulness and integrity... and still be authentic.

Finally I'd found this way where I didn't need a record label; I didn't need to wait for some phone call to tell me, 'Go and do it'. It's like, I'm going to get up with a bag of CDs and an amp and my guitar and make it happen for myself. That was such a liberating feeling, and I think it was the start of everything.

We have an audience, the ability to fund our own projects, own our own projects, the ability to display our projects unencumbered by any middlemen. That's the perfect scenario.