In the early and mid 1990s, every musician I knew was obsessed with Helium. The 'Pirate Prude' EP and 'Pat's Trick' played on repeat at nearly every gathering I attended. And we didn't just listen to these records - we discussed them, the worlds they opened, novelistic and strange.
I think the best thing an artist can do is not hang out with other artists. I really dislike hanging out with musicians, for the most part, except for a few select friends, because I don't like to talk about music all the time.
I hate talking about music, to tell you the truth.
There is a basic language of music that I think is important for communicating with other musicians - just the kind of terminology that might make it easier to describe your ideas to the other guys in your band.
I'm very nerdy about my music, and I like interrogating people about what they put on playlists.
I'm not technically adept at music, but I'd love to be part of a discussion of where progressive rock ends and country music begins.
People speak with enormous pomposity and arrogance about music.
When it comes to rock music, I'm not much of a player, but I do have entry-level chops. I'm more knowledgeable as a listener, and Revival gave me a way to write about rock and roll without being preachy or boring.
When a new record came out, the world would stop that day, and we would sit in somebody's house - whoever had the best stereo system - and sit in the middle of the two speakers and listen and discuss and listen again and go over the album notes and get out the guitar and start playing it and discuss and play some more.
Musically, I just like when people are knowledgeable about music and they can talk to you about it.
I'd much rather talk about guitar playing. I hate it when people ask me about my lyrics. I always feel like telling them to just go and read them.
VH1 Classic is the destination for people who would be interested in a music talk show.
I really don't care at all what people call me as long as they're listening to the music and talking about it. They can call me a space-jazz flautist. I don't care at all.
The people who know nothing about music are the ones always talking about it.
As long as your intention is pure, and you know what you're in it for, then you're alright. And I'm in it because I enjoy it. I take it seriously... real seriously. I mean I could sit and talk all day about the music.
Naturally, no one knows more about music than musicians. They talk about their own work all the time, but they rarely get to talk about other people's music.
I like talking about my music.
Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.
I would love to do a video with Harry Styles and sit with him and talk about, like, his music and One Direction and everything he has going on and all his amazing songs that have been coming out.
We don't really talk about music that much, to be honest with you. It's not some I usually - I can't really talk about other people's tracks never mind my own.
We were big Clash fans, you know, big Who fans and I think we would listen to this music and talk about music and do nothing but music night and day, and when it came time to actually making our own music, you feel compelled to sort of tuck all those influences away, not show them.
Ideally, each week, I'd like to have rad, intelligent, creative, funny guests with different takes on the world of music. I will ask them all what their favorite blink-182 song is, and what they like best about me as a person.
Anybody I'm dating, I don't want them to talk about my music. I don't talk about my music to them.
One thing I've always loved doing is hanging out and talking music with other artists.
I think there are just a million interviews in anthologies with famous musicians that are about the music, and they're really boring to read.
