John Sebastian Quotes

It's only in the seventies that I put the sticks down and I moved to the front.

I learned so much about playing and touring being on the road and in the studio with Jeff, but I'd always played a lot of gigs in Seattle even prior to joining the Fusion.

In the studio, I'm always throwing people on different instruments.

I was going to record a solo album when I was 15 on a four-track. I started working on it, but then Fall Out Boy happened. The band was awesome and took me in a totally different direction. I don't regret it at all, but the band delayed the record I had been planning.

I did a lot of writing for a lot of different kinds of bands that I was in and out of during those five years and that left me with a little body of songs that I liked better when I played alone, so I ended up going out solo and very soon made my first album.

Well, the announcement to say that I was no longer a member of Vampire Weekend was something that was in the works for a long time. I knew that it was the right choice for me.

Always try and play with as many people as possible, even if it's not your style of music, because you will learn a lot.

I had the idea to spend the year off in 2008 and start writing a rock album. I wanted to do something else other than melodic metal after more than ten years of After Forever. I thought it would be nice to sidestep into rock.

I mean, I wasn't fortunate enough to have ever experienced starting out with a band and sticking with them, so that would be interesting to me. People whose bands start out like that, when they break up it's always terrible.

Ever since I got a job in Imogen Heap's touring band when I was 17, there have been moments in my career that I can't quite believe really happened.

I think, at the end of the day, that was really what the reward for production is for me, is being allowed to be a part of somebody else's musical vision for a while. Like Gwar. I got to do a Gwar record, right? That was great.

I came from a classical background, and I was teaching and earning a living out of music at a certain level, so it's funny to make it as a rock star when we're 40 or whatever.

When I was in The Scream, I thought I'd be around for 30 years playing with The Scream guys. Who knew I was gonna get a call from Motley?

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.

I have a soft spot for 'Wind of Change' because it was my first one, and it was a departure from Humble Pie - very much so. It showed me the spectrum of what I could do.

I had no precise plan when I started 'Electronica,' but I think it has been a very positive journey for me.

As a session player for so many years, I have found myself in rooms looking around going, 'Is this for real?'

If you had asked me in 2005, when I had just joined Foreigner, that I would leave the band in 2007 to play with Led Zeppelin, I would have said you're nuts.

If Harry Connick Jr. wants to call me and ask me to join his band, that would be fine with me. I'm happy, but if he calls, I would pick up.

If hip-hop is dead, then let it rest in peace and let's move on to something else.

I started as a writer. I didn't play music until late in life.

I'm very happy with what I can bring into Nightwish, but I will probably want to keep on writing things. And that can take many forms as well.

I think when it comes to re-signing with an organisation, there's no real compromise if you're trying to move on.

There's no musician who just wakes up one day and decides, 'This is what I want to do.' It takes some development.

There are people who compose from very young. That is not my case. I went discovering myself.