I don't think there's any music that you hear on the radio today that would be possible without Jimi Hendrix. Rock, blues-rock, heavy metal, any guitar stuff when you get right down to it - Jimi did it. He's certainly the guy who basically invented the blues-rock genre for guitar players.
I'm not a household name; I'm just a household name to guitar freaks.
You know who I'd like to open for? This will be a surprise, but I'll tell you who: Iron Maiden.
I went through a period in my life where I didn't have money to buy ramen noodles and peanut butter and jelly, but I also needed to go to the guitar store and buy strings and picks and polish and rags. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't play guitar.
If I feel like things are getting into a routine, I want them to be different. I need to keep improving and keep moving forward.
The first thing you realise very quickly when you decide to do an acoustic version of an electric song is your solo either becomes either very truncated, very different, or non-existent, because even if you play a clean solo, it's different with the Kryptonite... with the acoustic.
I'm not one of those people that has to share personal experiences. That's not really the kind of writer I am. I'm a very private person to begin with.
I am the poster boy for brick-by-brick foundation building. Play a club. Put on a good show for 35 people. Come back. Build your market. Have people talk about you.
There was a rumour that I was buying Gibson. It circulated around the Internet... And I just go, 'How well off do you think I am?' I play blues-rock for a living. It's like a vow of poverty.
I'm a self-loathing slide player. Some people like the way I play slide - I hate it.
If I'm soloing, I usually try to start with a theme, which will often stem from the blues.
Being a niche kind of artist, you're not going to make a lot of friends in the traditional music biz.
You often see lifestyle over substance in L.A. Some rock stars dress up like they're going to play a gig when they're just going to the 7-Eleven store on a Tuesday night.