Professional Musicians Quotes

All of these people kept on being professional musicians and composers in the strictest sense.

Wu-Tang has only done, like, three rehearsals throughout our whole career.

From a small child to right now - I mean, when I was five years old, Red Norville, Tal Farlow, Charles Mingus, Les Paul, Mary Ford, people like that were coming over to my house. So I was around professional adult mature musicians who had had big careers.

When we're in the studio, and we sing that first note on that record, you're committing to being a Backstreet Boy!

I was in dire need of a band that was serious about getting out of El Paso.

The Four Aces asked me if I'd like to sing with them as they didn't really have a lead singer.

We never set out to be this punk rock band that's going to stay small and tour in a van forever. We wanted to take our band to a level where we could do everything we want to do.

There is no line of demarcation between the amateurs and the pros; everyone is using the same tactics and playing in the same arenas. The only thing that separates them is radio, but the artist doesn't control who goes to radio and who doesn't.

I got to play with the big guys, the Wrecking Crew. They just blew me away. I learned a lot of stuff from those guys.

I am constantly amazed at the musicians that are able to do the same thing over and over for 20 or more years. That would drive me absolutely insane.

I have a hard time with musicians who act like pricks because it just makes me mad. I just sit there and I go, 'You know what, dude, no matter whether you're in a band just surviving or you're in a bus playing stadiums, one way or another, you're still among the rare breed of people that are actually getting paid to do it.'

Musicians now find themselves in the unlikely position of being legitimate. At least the IRS thinks so.

I've got guys in my band that have been there for about 35 years. They're great players, and we still enjoy doing the music.

What is so refreshing playing with Neil Finn and all his friends is these people think exactly the same - regular people doing their thing and separating the music from the business.

We're not getting paid. We have these great musicians with us and it gives us a real charge. And the audience gives us a charge, because they keep it interesting all the time.

I like to say that I do covers of my own songs. And I have about a dozen bands all over the world. That's no exaggeration. I have a South African band, an Australian band, Swedish bands, English bands, American bands. They're all notable musicians, too.

When we took on the name The Drifters, we became the new Drifters, and signed a contract to be put on salary, which I think was like a hundred dollars a week, a piece, five hundred dollars for all five of us.

I prefer career artists that have spent time honing their craft, as opposed to, 'I won a karaoke contest on a reality show and now I have a record.' That's such a drag. The music that comes out of it is so poor.

I doubt I'll ever pay someone to do a remix again, because there's some amazing stuff just coming out of bedrooms.

The world must be filled with unsuccessful musical careers like mine, and it's probably a good thing. We don't need a lot of bad musicians filling the air with unnecessary sounds. Some of the professionals are bad enough.

We built up a hardcore following, but we were really still semipro, gigging over long weekends and the like. So after EMI signed us, we packed in the day jobs because we had to make an album.

When I started Samhain, I remember a producer telling me that I had a real band now.

Rap is no longer a pastime; this is a worldwide profession.

I get really insecure because even though I can speak in musician's terms, I don't know as much as real musicians.

I'm not closing the door on my solo career, but with 5th Story, if the public demand is there, then I'll continue to work with the band. If not, we'll all go our separate ways again.