Bowie is probably my favorite all-around songwriter and performer and personality. His ability to change over the years is such an inspiration. I love 'Young Americans' and 'Fame.'
I used to just write about my own apathy, but that youthful, apathetic way of looking at things grew thin as I got older.
If I was in a zombie apocalypse, I wouldn't be playing music, because that would attract zombies.
Writing the songs and producing the songs and arranging them and recording them is your canvas and your palette and your brush.
Making an album should be an honest experience. It shouldn't be about trying to gauge where popular music is today; it should be about artistic expression and putting down what you want to put down.
I was on the pro-Nirvana, anti-Pearl Jam bandwagon.
Bowie's obviously my biggest influence.
I really didn't get obsessed with Bowie until my freshman year in high school. I remember listening to 'Starman' and thinking it sounded like it was a song for kids, like a lullaby. The Thin White Duke is my favorite look that he created.
One thing that has really influenced me with Bowie where I've taken an approach from him is how he changes from album to album and has always modified his sound and his appearance. I think that's an important thing.
In my creative life, David Bowie is definitely an enormous influence on me, being one of rock's greatest shapeshifters.
I prefer a three-piece suit myself. Very sixties rock and roll. But they're not too quirky. Businessmen could wear them.
I want a performance style that's more cerebral and emotional than physical. I want to be a creative artist, not a whirling dervish.
I had always sung in choirs. Even when it was something to be laughed at or made fun of, you know, in school. And I was always the kid who was picked at the Christmas concert to sing the solo, you know, while the other kids snickered in the front few rows.
I was just a kid in 1987 when I heard of the Pixies, the year after I graduated high school. But I had my band together, and my best friend at the time, Corey Hickock, who was the guitar player in the band that would become STP, Mighty Joe Young, turned me on to the Pixies.
I tend to get my hands into all these other things and all these distractions, and after a while I start feeling depleted.
Every single thing I've done has made me who I am today. The only thing I would take back is hurting the people that I love, and the people who I love have already read my lyrics and heard my apologies. But the rest of the world, I don't need to apologize to them. My life doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the world.
I want my ex-wife and children to be happy.
As horrible as jail was, there were some first-rate guys in there.
Shoot the bad guys and I'll gladly sing a tune for you.
I played in Velvet Revolver, which is a raw, bombastic blues band with a punk rock edge to it. It's like everything is based around the blues, no matter what the groove is.
