Rick Nielsen Quotes

Especially in the Dixie Chicks, everyone wants you to play a role. Natalie was the feisty one. Martie was the nice one 'cause she smiles all the time onstage, and I was the quiet one.

I wanted to be in a band that gave bang for the buck. I wanted to be in the band who didn't look like a bunch of guys who, you know, should be in a library studying for their finals.

I played piano in a covers band, but that didn't especially help with girls. There is never a piano around after the shows. Guys with the guitars were the ones who got lucky.

Only one of us would usually sing lead. Which most of the time was, Mickey or Dave. They thought it was perfectly a natural routine, because Mickey and Dave saw themselves as TV actors.

The Black Keys is just a band that wants to get on stage and rock it.

My dream has been to have my rock band behind me, play live, and entertain.

I think Robert Plant is the quintessential frontman - just the way he moves. His voice is superhuman.

We used to have massively long discussions about how we should stand on stage. Should we stand with our legs apart? No, all the guys with guitars in skinny jeans stand with their legs apart, and you'd think, 'We can't stand like that.' We'd spend hours and hours, days and days, discussing how to stand.

We've always imagined ourselves as a rock band. We've always been a rock band playing the wrong instruments.

A rock band with vocals is what I always wanted to be a part of; in fact, it feels very natural for me.

I think our live shows dispelled any misconceptions people had about us. When you come see us live, you know we're anything but a boy band.

To me, you had to have a least a couple of ugly guys in the band. That's why Saxon was great.

I was always so jealous of a band like Fleetwood Mac, for instance, where Christine McVie would sing a whole bunch of songs even though Stevie was the obvious lead singer. It added variety to their shows.

I had a couple of years of rebellion - I was singing in a rock band.

You were born to rock, you'll never be an opera star.

You know, being in a rock band, you can't overdo the costume changes too much because everyone thinks, oh, that's not a real rock band. Look how many times he changes costumes. That's not rock. Rock's about going on in a T-shirt and staying in it and getting it all dirty. But that's not really my approach.

My first impression of Van Halen was that David Lee Roth was a god, and that so was Eddie.

I was a lucky kid. You could have got 10 kids to be in The Byrds who were better than I was.

I find it hard to take rock groups very seriously or treat them with respect. There is something absurd about these gloomy young men getting together and banging away.

I found out how great the E Street Band is. The reality of a band that you can't scoop aside, can't put in a corner.

I'm a Nickelback guy.

I'm nothing without a band. I always feel like I'm part of the road crew until I'm on stage.

My friend, Zachary Throne, was playing a gig with Lemmy and the Upsetters. Knowing of our shared love of Motorhead, Zach called me up and invited me to the rehearsal.

There is nothing wrong about being a rock n' roll guitar player.

I absolutely am not the 'de facto front man' in The Mob - that title surely goes to Russell Allen, who is one of the best front men in the business. I am just happy to be part of the band and not necessarily leading it.