I liked what any other kid did back in the day. You know, Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, and everything else that was on the radio in Michigan. There was a lot of Steely Dan; just a lot of great music inspired me.
I would love to work with a Beatle: Paul McCartney or Ringo Starr.
Ever since I was a kid, I've been a Fender connoisseur. And to have my name associated with greatness like that, it's amazing. I couldn't be more proud of anything. My children, and then being associated with Fender. In that order!
I'm a Telecaster connoisseur, and I love my Teles. I have one from almost every year since the very beginning, in 1950. I'm so obsessed with them.
I truly enjoyed my time with Manson and have the greatest respect for the incredible fans. I am grateful to have contributed over two dozen songs to his projects. It was a great creative outlet for me at that point in my career.
I love doing it. It's great. I love doing the sessions, 'cause you're kind of like in a different band every day. I used to do them all the time. I think my first one was John Wetton from U.K. and Asia and all that stuff, King Crimson. It was so great. Really a lot of fun.
I would hear Steely Dan on the radio all the time, and I listened to 'Aja' a lot. I mean, 'Black Cow' and 'Aja' and 'Deacon Blues' and 'Josie' and 'Peg'... all these songs are on one record. It's crazy!
I love to learn, and I started doing a lot of studying of Spanish-style music and really started getting into it and how it is just a completely different form of guitar playing. It is just like if you started speaking in a different language like Japanese or something. It is something that you have to study and work at a lot.
It's funny, the power of music. I was watching 'Dracula,' the 1931 version with Bela Lugosi, and the only music you hear is at the very beginning of the credits. There's not one other piece of music; it's all silent. It's unbelievable, and it's very effective, too.
Inspiration is a really hard thing to describe, but it's something that triggers your brain, like the first time I heard a certain guitar player that I loved or the first time that I saw a monster or the first time that I saw anything that really was an epiphany for me. It just stays with you your whole life.
I remember where I was when I heard Yngwie Malmsteen for the first time. It was such an epiphany for me, and it really shaped the way I play today. I think I heard him in '83, if I'm not mistaken - I was 13 years old - and it really was amazing for me.
Nothing's changed from when I'm seven years old to now. Nothing's changed at all. I like the same stuff that I did - Kiss, Van Halen, 'Happy Days,' 'Laverne & Shirley,' 'The Brady Bunch,' monsters and all that stuff.
I loved TV, and I watched anything with music - 'Hee Haw,' 'Happy Days,' anything like that. So I loved the Monkees.
'Hee Haw' was a huge influence on me.
I love Loretta Lynn, and I love Roy Clark and Johnny Cash, everybody.
When I was touring with Ozzy, you know, when I was with Manson, we toured with Ozzy, so many times, we did Ozzfest a thousand times, and, you know, it seems like I'm always playing with Ozzy in one way or another opening up.
I was such a big Kiss and Van Halen fan, Yngwie Malmsteen, Racer X... all that stuff. I loved everybody.
I'm so honored that I got the best guitarist award for the fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods awards.
I like streaming music. I'll be in the car going, 'I want to hear Scotty Anderson.' He's a great guitar player not many people know about - maybe me and two other dudes know him. But I love him, and I can pull him up on Apple Music, and there it is, right there in my car.
When I came to California, I came from such an upper scale neighborhood, I was so sheltered, but I always knew I wanted to live in California, and I wanted to play guitar.
