You don't really know a song until you play it live.
In the studio, you can redo things. In concert, you only have one shot at it, so you have to try to be as perfect as possible.
Music is about the performance.
When we were recording, sometimes I wondered if what we were doing would even be possible to play live.
When I recorded Contra la Puerta, I never really thought out doing the material live. Mostly because I haven't really seen any electronic music performed live in an interesting way.
My role in AC/DC is to keep time and to drive the band as much as I can. That's a drummer's role anyway.
I think what AC/DC does best is play live. That's when everything comes together. Even after you make a studio album, when you go out and play live, that's when you learn what being in a band is all about.
As far as the execution is concerned ... the most frequent and most serious mistake is to follow the music instead of preceding it.
Nevertheless, one doesn't have time to think, oh, well, this is a quarter tone sharp, or flat.
I like to rehearse a lot. Before I hit the stage, I listen to the songs that I would perform and make sure I execute everything.
I do not ask for my music to be interpreted, but only for it to be played.
I am an interpreter of music rather than a composer of it.
Slayer has always been about the sound. We have to sound good. It has to be tight.
My music is not modern, it is merely badly played
On 'Sullivan,' you sang live. Not only that, you sang with a 40-piece band. So you had instruments that weren't even on the original record! So this was when the rubber met the road - when you had to really learn how to perform. And it was for 10 or 12 million people. So that was a challenge.
It doesn't necessarily mean at all that the composer plays his own works best.
