One of the benefits of playing to small audiences in small clubs for a few years is that you’re allowed to fail.

I always had a knack for improvisation. I can write down the notes I play, but never really had a proper academic musical background. I suppose I’m blessed and cursed by the fact I have that freedom.

I’ve definitely seen bands before they made money kind of change their thing on the next tour, and I prefer it when it’s a little more raw.

I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better.

Music helps me tell my story. That’s where I can really be heard. But there’s so much focus on the things that aren’t music.

The prospect of music being detachable from time and place meant that one could start to think of music as a part of one’s furniture.

I’ve made sure that in any situation and with any record label, I’m allowed to write my own music.

Speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again.

‚Nothin‘ on You‘ by B.o.B was the first song where I heard myself on the radio. I’d been trying my whole career to write a song like that, which incorporates live instruments with hip-hop and singing.

You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.

In the 1960s, people were trying to get away from the pop song format. Tracks were getting longer, or much, much shorter.

In music the passions enjoy themselves.

I used to think that, given enough goodwill, anybody would be able to ‚get‘ any music, no matter how distant the culture from which it came. And then I heard Chinese opera.

So many girls come up and say to me, ‚I have never listened to country music in my life. I didn’t even know my town had a country-music station. Then I got your record, and now I’m obsessed.‘ That’s the coolest compliment to me.

Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries.

I wanted to be in a punk band before I had even heard any punk music.

I’m just writing, writing, writing. I keep these tablets on me until I’m inspired to go back in and make the music. I never take a break from my pen, because I pride myself on that.

If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.

Some people focus more on sonics. Some people focus more on story. I focus on both sonics and story.

Music is my shining light, my favorite thing in the world. T get me to stop doing it for one second would be difficult!

I want you to feel happy and enjoy the theatre of my life the way that I do. No matter what happens with my music and wherever I go – that heart of that glamorous girl in New York will never be gone.

I belong to a gospel choir. They know I am an atheist but they are very tolerant.

If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that… I believe in what I do, and I’ll say it.

When I do stand-up shows at colleges, girls will talk to me after the show, and that always feels good. I like talking to them.

When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music. Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?

I pay attention to lyrics and I know what rap fans care about. I try to write for the average listener and I’m conscious of the mainstream without selling out.

Every single one of the guys that I’ve written songs about has been tracked down on MySpace by my fans.

I have never used Auto-Tune in a live television performance, and I have never used Auto-Tune in any of my concerts. That is a promise.

I have to work really hard to get the record deal – I have to spend years at it to get good. I have to practice to be good at guitar.

If a man constantly aspires is he not elevated?

People are already finding ways to make their music and play it in front of people and have a life in music, I guess, and I think that’s pretty much all you can ask.

At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.

It was always a plan that we were going to have a retail side with what were doing musically, like an Apple store or Nike Town. I wanted something where you can come get everything – ‚Marathon‘ or ‚All Money‘ or ‚Crenshaw‘ – and make it like an experience. Especially with what Crenshaw and Slauson meant to my story.

I taught myself how to play the guitar, I taught myself how to play the drums, and I kind of fake doing both of them. But drumming comes more natural to me, and it just feels better.

I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window.

I’m super serious about music. That’s, like, the only thing I’m serious about.

Today, I’d like to talk to Bob Marley. I’d just like to ask him what was his method. Bob is one of the greatest songwriters ever. I don’t know if people understand how powerful his songs are and the simplicity and genius behind them, from ‚Redemption Song‘ to ‚Is This Love?‘ and ‚I Shot the Sheriff.‘

I think when people make a record with a goal in mind – like taking it to the next level or making them seem more mature – that gets in the way of writing great songs.

I don’t like the name, U2, actually.

My songs always sound a lot better in person than they do on the record.

You know, when I have a bad game, it continues to humble me and know that, you know, you still have work to do and you still have a lot of people to impress.

Basically, I live to do gigs.

Who’s to say what’s a good voice and not a good voice?

Lyrics are the only thing to do with music that haven’t been made easier technically.

I do put a lot of God in my music, but not because I’m super religious. There are a lot of demons in my music, too. I acknowledge both.

I don’t think I’d ever apologise for music I make, no.

I booked my first studio at like 12 or 13. Somewhere in that season of my life, singing along with the radio became me wanting to be on radio, you know.

Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.

I wanted a name I could shape the music towards. I was going to Miami quite a lot at the time, speaking a lot of Spanish with my friends from Cuba – ‚Lana Del Rey‘ reminded us of the glamour of the seaside. It sounded gorgeous coming off the tip of the tongue.

John Lennon was definitely my favorite Beatle, hands down.

I get a thrill meeting kids who are into alternative music.

I often get ideas for songs on the tour bus at odd times. Like at 6am when no one is around, I’d just write.

There’s a reason why the Foo Fighters don’t blast out Nirvana songs every night: because we have a lot of respect for them. You know, that’s hallowed ground. We have to be careful. We have to tread lightly. We have talked about it before, but the opportunity hasn’t really come up, or it just hasn’t felt right.

I want more of my favorite artists or more of the guy that makes the anthems. I want more.

When I listen to a song, I don’t say, ‚Oh my gosh, that vocal line she sang was the best thing I ever heard.‘ I’m thinking, ‚That lyric just moves me. That lyric just said what I feel better than I could say it myself.‘

You create a community with music, not just at concerts but by talking about it with your friends.

Music keeps the heart porous in many ways.

If you talk bad about country music, it’s like saying bad things about my momma. Them’s fightin‘ words.

When we started, a lot of bands sounded really different from one another.

In a budget, how important is art versus music versus athletics versus computer programming? At the end of the day, some of those trade-offs will be made politically.

Most people wouldn’t know music if it came up and bit them on the ass.