Unconventional Instruments Quotes

Using something that is really painful, generally, as the percussive element for a beat, I think is cool.

If Mozart had power tools, there's no telling how great his music might have been.

The way I approach things is from an experimental folk music standpoint.

Our band was different. We were still playing rock 'n' roll, but we had an entirely different sound: just one guitar, but an organ and a saxophone.

The drums are very trashy: it's all electric, it's very in your face, and it's not perfect. It's raw, and I think that's what 'garage' means.

I've always tried different stuff in the studio. I use rakes, spoons, cans... I'm a surround-sound type of guy.

Ultimately, what interests me is using exotic sounds in my songs.

Part of what Faith No More shows are is chaos and unpredictability.

If we found an ashtray in the studio, we'd try to play it and find a part for it in a song.

I want to be taken seriously as the type of musician that plays stuff like an electric rake. I mean, how seriously do you take someone like Spike Jones? They take him pretty seriously - a really good musician who made a great contribution in terms of humor, which is part of what I try to do too.

But there's actually a lot of punk bands out there that go out of the norm, use odd time signatures, or a lot of different tempo changes in a song.

I love playing instruments that I don't know how to play or am not familiar with. I like the idea of danger and innocence that comes from it. As an artist, I feel I should be able to do something with anything I get my hands on. The music becomes minimalist because of my limited knowledge.

I don't use conventional voices for my compositions.

I played didgeridoo from a young age - on the vacuum cleaner, initially.

I'm just a one-instrument player. I have been known to play a blender, but I basically play - just play the violin.

When you write on the road, you are restricted to the instruments around you, whereas in the studio, you can plug anything in and try it.

I worked with Jack Nitzsche for 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,' and we'd booked a symphony orchestra. He dismissed them and came with a little man who poured water into glasses of different sizes to make a glass harmonica. And most of the music for the film was that - with some Indian flutes and some drums.

You look at the instrumentation, and you can't really argue that we set out with commercial aspirations. Banjos and things like that are not part of some formula for global success. But it felt right, and I think there's some value to purity of intention.