A Year's Worth of Words

In celebration of Glide’s one year anniversary, we decided there is no better way to look back on our first year than revisiting some of our favorite artist quotes. After reading through the archives, we discovered that there were almost too many to print, but we narrowed it all down to those that were most interesting, humorous and revealing. From Chris Robinson to Badly Drawn Boy to the Flaming Lips - Enjoy!

"I was practicing between eight and twelve hours a day. And that on top of like twenty-one credit hours on top of a job on top of...so I was literally sleeping like five hours a night. And this went on for probably three years, or longer. But I was dedicated to doing it. I just wanted to get better. I knew I had a lot of work to catch up on, and I was willing to spend the time. I had no social life, no girlfriend, I wasn’t getting laid at all (laughs). And I’d have cats coming in like, ‘come on man, lets go hang, and party.’ And this is when ecstasy first came out, so I’d have guys coming over my room and they were just fucked up (laughs)! And they’d say, ‘come on, lets go hang!’ And I’d be like, ‘man, I gotta practice, I can’t. I just have so much stuff to catch up on, so much work to do.’ And it would have been fun to hang with them, but that certainly wasn’t something I wanted to get into, and music was a good excuse not to get into it. And my dedication, just trying to take myself to the next level, whatever that was, was definitely away from that. Which was definitely a direction I wanted to be moving."

"I’m horrible about decisions...I can easily pick a million decisions and get them down to two, and then I get stuck permanently. So I was down to that cover, and the abstract image that was used on the front of the booklet, except the type was different. But those two images have more of a violet purple and now it is kind of a more orange purple. So I had those two images mocked up on an album cover, and I went to downtown Burlington on my Segway, down on Church Street, and I had them in my pocket and asked like a hundred people what they liked better and why. And then in case that wasn’t enough, I parked my Segway and went into Borders and I put them onto two different shelves near each other in a display case and I just hovered and waited to see if one of them would attract people."

"George Bush, obviously, he has a lot of healing to do, obviously has a lot of misdirected emotion and he can probably benefit from getting out of his head a little and getting into his heart a little. I'd rack up his iPod with a lot of shit, we'd sit down, have a plate of beans and rice and then I'd smoke half a spliff and offer that to him."

"I mean we've sold over a million records, but the deals are so hodge-podge, that we don't get anything from it. It's weird, you know, it's like sometimes you just want to go back to painting houses or anything other than this. Just too much work with too little monetary reward. But there is certainly no other reason to have done all this other than for the music. It keeps you going, it keeps you going strong."

"I don't know why we kind of caught on with seventeen-year old girls...[I suppose] partly because we did two months of touring with John Mayer and Fountains of Wayne didn't. I don't care, there are no ideal fans. I think a seventeen year old girl can feel music just as deeply as a thirty five year old rock critic. "

"Jerry Garcia and I first met when I used to play with David Lindley &El Rayo-X. We opened for The Grateful Dead back in 1987. He was a true music fan and used to hang all day at the concert site listening to the bands opening for them. He loved to talk about all kinds of music. In 1994 Traffic opened for The Grateful Dead for 11 shows, and on our last show Jerry jammed with us on the song "Dear Mr. Fantasy." It was great! We spoke about playing together. He wanted me to play in his solo band after the tour was over but it never happened unfortunately. As you know he left this world abruptly, and I am sure there's a great jam right now going on somewhere in heaven."

"And there are times where I am thinking of a variety of things like ‘holy shit, I think I coughed up a piece of my lung.’ Or a lot of times I actually wind up trying to hold myself back a little bit because I find that I almost damage my lungs sometimes when I go over the top, and when I listen back to tapes, I feel sometimes within that real intense emotional moment, the emotion comes through, but the tonal quality of my voice suffers from the belt pouring. So there’s finding that balance between capturing that sense and emotion and still having it sound perfectly valid."

"The shape varies a little bit, the wheel base varies a little bit, and sometimes the 7 ply is a little thicker or thinner, and they try to throw some different curvature in the wood, different grain runs, there’s all kinds of little things, tweaks that they’re doing, but all in all, it’s just a piece of wood."

"I think you have to make the music you want to make, [and you shouldn’t] think about how it’s going to be accepted or where it will be placed. And hopefully you’re not going to be making music specifically for McDonald’s commercials. I guess if you eat at McDonalds everyday you’d be excited about that, but we don’t make music for Abercrombie and Fitch, and they’re not asking us."

"Oh god, playing with Phil Lesh, I had no idea what to expect, and I went out there and it was totally different than anything I thought it was going to be. Playing "Unbroken Chain" with Phil Lesh was like a dream. But what he wanted, was so totally unexpected that there was no way you could prepare for it. We went in there, and he immediately said 'I want everyone to play lead, I don't want anyone to back anyone up. We are all first amongst equals, so all of you play lead, but listen to each other'. To play lead while two other guitar players are playing lead at the same time, and then Phil and John Molo, who play together as one and make a great team, sit there and change rhythms on you, my brain melted. So, did I think I was at my best? No."

"Andrew is really one of the purist individuals I know. I kind of owe everything to Andrew...his presence in my life. And I just have to remember to respect that all the time. I think if everyone tried to live the way that he does, you would really see a different place."

"We're always careful to say we're not actually operating on anyone's brain, so it's not a life and death situation or anything, but in the same way that people would say band's are being risky within musical exploration, actual people just being open-minded are taking a risk in saying 'hey, what's all this about, what's that all about, and what does this mean?' 'Cause...that's when it starts getting fun (laughs)."

"One of the philosophies I came away from with my time with Mark was, he used to always say 'rehearsal is death'"

"We were at a stop light in the motor home when a BMW with four, baseball capped, short hair, fraternity types, wearing polo shirts pulled up next to us. The driver signaled us to roll down the window and in a white boy prep school tone said, 'hey brother, great show. I have the headies. Are you down?' I kindly replied, 'No thanks,' and we sped off. To understand the jest of the situation, imagine Niles or Frasier Crane saying this quote. It was a memory that will last forever. "

"I think all creative work has elements that are begged, borrowed, or stolen...but if done right still manages to stand out on its own and truly reflects the time(s) in which it was created. You hear a ton of Pixies in Nirvana, but both bands, represent and speak to/about a time in my life and remain completely original in that right"

"There is no sure thing, and they don't fuckin' know what it is. You know what I mean? And it's some asshole who got a business degree from fuckin', the University of Wisconsin or whatever, and instead of going to work for IBM, he goes and works for Sony Music, and he doesn't know shit about shit. And he's telling artists how to write songs, and it's disgusting."

"I like everybody; I like Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Salvador Dali, Picasso, and Monet...he's a badass."

"Those guys are millionaires, let’s be honest, but they don’t act like pop stars. In the two years that I’ve worked with them, not for one minute did I feel like I was working for them. And I can bring my compositions in as a sideman and they rehearse and they record them, and I never saw one record company go in there and give suggestions. They’re not depending on selling albums, they sell shows for these people who follow them anywhere. We are in the middle of the desert and we stop the bus to pee or something, and you see these cars behind the bus...‘oh, Mr. Cyro, I have a present for you.’ I’m like ‘what is this, we’re in the middle of the desert, it’s midnight!’ ‘Oh, I already saw 26 shows or something!’ (laughing) It’s crazy!"

"I’m about to be 37, so I don’t know what it’s like to be 60 and doing this (laughs)."

"We had people that had never seen us before and were like 'I had two drugs in my hand, while you were up. I had ecstasy in one hand and cocaine in the other, and I just put it down and felt like I never wanted to do it again.' It's stuff like that, where you need to wonder why you need to do drugs to have a good time. "

"When that’s going on, there’s nothing going through my mind. I guess I do sing sometimes, but I really don’t realize it. It’s like I’m just shooting for that moment when the connection between my mind and my fingers is like…it’s a "round" type of thing…it comes back and goes out there, and there’s no cognitive…you know, there’s some sort of, on another level of thinking about – ‘ok, well we’re trying to shape the overall thing…that one thing I’m doing is going to lead to the next thing.’ When it translates to the whole band, then we’re like really playing music and it’s like, seat of your pants arranging. "

"I was a huge Black Sabbath fan when I was a kid."

"I think its always important for a musician, or any artist to be trying to look forward, but I have to admit it gets easier to look forward as I grow older than to look back, simply because there is so much to look back at the older you get. I think there was an analogy, it’s an old story, that Robert Duvall used in the movie Colors, about the calf and the bull...there’s something about being able to walk down and ‘fuck em all,’ as he put it in the movie, that really does address the comfort level were dealing with. And I think that’s just through experience. You learn to get good at your job, and you start to feel excited, but it is very exciting now to look ahead, and I’m sure that has a lot to do with the record, but I feel simply closer to what is ahead, because the more I look back the farther it seems."

"Unfortunately, if either of those audiences are there to see new-age music or if they are there to see technical music that I would tell them to go home. What I want to do is move people, freak them out, and make them cry. I’m not going to do it through pretty guitar sounds, and I’m not going to do it through technique. It’s going to happen, if at all, through composition…that’s what I’m struggling with, to write beautiful compositions that last beyond the technical or beautiful sound to them."

"It was a catch 22. They wouldn't give you a photo pass unless you had a portfolio, and you couldn't build a portfolio unless you were getting into the concerts and taking pictures, so there is really no way to break through."

"And then it got to be like 3 o'clock in the morning and we were all goofy and kind of like singing, 'like water on the breeze.' And it was really, really rough, like the track was unbelievable and the rhythm section was crazy, and the vocals sounded like we had been drinking far too much tequila."

"We had a gig [recently] and they told us the wrong start time, so we were an hour late, and we were all frustrated, and everybody was tired, and came in on separate flights…Kai and Alan had left at like 5 in the morning in order to arrive by 5 in the evening, so it was a long day of traveling. So we get there and we don’t have our own gear and we don’t have a sound check, we don’t have a line check, and then just boom! That shit is on like a motherfucker! It’s just on! It’s like you push a button and it’s just on! And that’s a rarity that a band can have that kind of automatic pocket."

"I’m competitive, and would like to outsell all those bands (laughs). Ironically though, when we were making this record I was like, ‘I don’t care what anybody thinks, and I don’t care what it sells.’ Of course, that all goes out the window when the record comes out."

"It's such a blessing to be where we are — and I want to stress that, we wouldn't trade it for anything — doing what we love to do and finding a path to succeed."

"I feel you got to take the good with the bad, I mean, I know what I'm getting into. There are many people who will come just because they want to see Jon, but I think that's helped [introduce] a lot of people to JMP. It is distracting in some ways when we walk on stage and they are all screaming Jon's name, or while we have been playing a quiet ballad and there is some drunk guy just screaming Jon's name, that sucks."

"I grew up listening to like Sonic Youth and Black Flag, The Dead Kennedy’s, Sex Pistols, Angry Samoans...you know, I’m from suburban Illinois so punk rock is like a savior, like ‘ah, finally, music with meaning...no more of this crap about summer lovin’ (laughs). I think what we do compared to, say Sonic Youth, is completely on the other side of the music industry, but hopefully, maybe Thurston [Moore] will come see us and be like ‘oh, well, I like the way the lyrics are,’ or ‘I like how they fuck with people’ (laughs).

"When I started playing with Phil, it was overwhelming those first few shows, but you have to come to grips with it, because you can’t allow those things to seep in when you’re on stage. And it is really cool when I think about, that someday when it’s all said and done, that I’m gonna be part of this legacy. It’s unbelievable, but it’s not overwhelming, it’s beautiful. Most people, when they sit back and they dream about what they really want to do in their lives, I’d probably say a good portion of people don’t ever really get to that place, and I have, and it feels good.

"And this guy Trey [Anastasio]...in the beginning I said, oh, this is a rock ’n roll guy.’ But he’s not man! This guy can compose classical music. I brought him some tunes, and he made the tunes look amazing. He has many horn lines in his head. He wants to play jazz. And he’s a kid [compared] to me (laughs)! And they are open to play anything. I remember when I played with Sting, back two years ago, he was trying to do this like world music, because of September 11th, and he did a video or something, but suddenly the record company came and said, ‘oh, this is not sexy enough, it needs to go back to be rock ’n roll.’ And the next day it was rock ’n roll, and it’s bullshit, not world music. I mean, they have an image that they are looking for. It’s not that I don’t like Sting, I think he’s an amazing singer and what he does, but that’s what I like in this jamband thing. They are opening a new door. They are making a transformation. Not just musically, but it’s a social thing."

"My plan was to live at the beach, surf, and dress like a gardener. I’m pulling it off, but it took awhile."

"That's a hard thing to describe, because it's more a feel for something than anything else. And it doesn't always work real well (laughs). There's definitely some dead time on stage sometimes. Sometimes a show just flows out, and other times you might sit there and think- ‘wow, I wish I had a setlist.'

"All these kids have come in here and are all excited to see the Round Room, but it's not the Round Room, it's actually the Barn Ball"

"[Futureman] is one of those cats that I really think that in forty of fifty years people will be studying his shit going ‘oh my god!’"

"The corporatization of the world, as told through America, or America as told through the world, is keeping culture down. They’re killing culture by commercializing everything. There’s no real culture left anymore. We go to these different cities, and with a few exceptions, they’re all exactly the same. It’s all the same chains, all the same stores, you can get the same stuff everywhere. There’s no individuality anymore in American commerce. And then you look at the products that they’re actually selling, and nine times out of ten, it’s harmful in one way or another, especially when talking about food products. And even regular goods, it’s usually such crap. The only place to get anything decent is vintage stores and thrift stores. Most of the stuff out there is just junk…just made to fall apart. it’s just disposable."

"I told Kate we should just put bags over our heads and write ‘generic celebrity photograph’ on the front...I mean, what’s the difference? It’s a made up industry, another way for people not to work or be involved in their own lives. They’ve made an industry around celebrity that doesn’t exist for some celebrities and doesn’t exist for people...it’s a made up world. It’s annoying to me, because at the end of the day, having people camped out in front of your house is a fuckin’ bummer no matter who you are."

"there were plenty of people who heard Nirvana who said, ‘oh, too loud and obnoxious.’ But somebody said, ‘I’m gonna show the world why this band is great.’ And [for a band], that’s what you’re always searching for (laughs)."

"when we first did a tour with him, the first day, he invited us up on stage and he breaks into probably about four songs we had never heard, and his band had never heard...and you know, you're just trying to figure it out, and all of a sudden he points at you and tells you to take a guitar solo. And then he leaves the stage and the spotlight is on you, and you're in front of 15,000 people trying to figure out the song and a solo (laughs). But he's not messin' with you in a negative way. Beforehand, I perceived that he understood my style of playing, and our style of playing, and he knew that we could figure it out...and he just challenges us enough, you know, to make you sweat. So he's cool that way."

"Our trick was, you’d take a razorblade and slit the plastic on the record. You’d pull the record out, you’d put it on the turntable at night when nobody’s in the store and you’d listen. And then you’d put it back in, you pull the cellophane over and you’d switch it around the other way so it doesn’t look like anyone opened the record...I got that down pretty good. So I listened to a lot of records that way."

"I'm [The Residents lighting] designer and that's my work you're talking about.' He paused for a moment and said, 'No shit! Really?' And he started to yell, 'Jon, come over here! Come here! This is the guy, this is the guy, come here!' So he drags Fishman over. Trey explained the situation to Fish and it was like they transformed into Wayne and Garth. They started to bow and say, 'We're not worthy! We're not worthy!'

"I don't know, it really doesn't feel like we're done until we [play for three hours]. What would you want? What would we want? You want to have an epic experience. We're an epic band. If we're going to fucking go to this city, and that city, with all that equipment and set it up, what else are you going to do, go and play an hour and have dinner?"

"When I started out with the name, it was a good way of being recognized. But the name got spread around pretty quick. I didn’t do it to hide behind, I just did it because it’s more noticeable. You spend a long time trying to find the right name, but five years down the line, the name just confuses me, it’s all about me really. There’s no difference between Badly Drawn Boy and me, Damon Gough. I’ve reached the point where I almost want to change the name, but I made it hard to do that. I’d rather just call it "BDB" or just change the name. I walk to the train station and I can hear people whispering, ‘there’s Badly Drawn Boy’...it’s a little strange. But yes, there can be an identity crisis. I’m not sure what people make of it."

"It's hard to be into it at a moments notice. It's like saying, 'ok, lets have sex right now'. There's no foreplay and you have to start right away."

"Man, I want a radio station so bad! I would just love to have a radio station. This is sort of like getting it out of my system I guess, but I don't think I would play any one type of music at a certain time of the day. You know, there's no rules, you just have to go with your intuition of what you feel like hearing. That's why radio play lists are inherently life destroying. Because ultimately, you don't know what song you're going to feel like listening to at 10:36, and you don't know what songs really sound good after a song you just played, and so you are right at that point where you're listening to the song and you're asking yourself, ‘what song do I really feel like hearing after this one?' I really think it's a flaw, and radio will never be that great until they just get rid of the playlists and play what they actually feel like listening to."

"Because having a voice that is distinctive is good even if it’s not Aretha Franklin or whatever. I’d rather sound like me and be a little off, than sound like the average person and be right on."

"In '89 I started having a party in my basement where we would just get together, get a dozen people, get all the Zappa albums and just listen for twenty-four hours on his birthday. Nothing but Zappa for twenty-four hours. That was the gimmick of it, we actually make it twenty-four hours. We would start at ten in the morning or something on his birthday and go until ten in the morning the next morning. We would watch videos, we would get every interview or article we had, lay it out. It would be just like this, guys hanging out, drinking beers."

"I was going to school at the time at HARTT and it was coming around the time of the end of the semester and I decided I didn't want to be there anymore. So, I packed up my car around Christmas time. I was in my car actually, like ten minutes out of the parking lot, my phone rings and I heard, 'Jen, it's Trey, what's going on?' And I was like (laughs) 'Hey, buddy, how you doing?' He goes, 'So, I'm thinking, we are thinking about putting this band together, I wonder what you're doing.' I go, 'well I just quit school ten minutes ago.' So I drove straight to his house and we had a rehearsal and two days later we were on tour. It was unbelievable, it just sort of happened."

"So the long and short-what is passion? It’s like not having a choice of something and blindly being drawn to it and having immense drive to do whatever the activity is regardless of financial compensation and hardship. I would say passion is just like love, it’s not definable but powerful as hell."

“What is frustrating, and a lot of it is our fault, is we need to record more, because a lot of people are basing their writing on what we recorded and not the actual [live] music we are making. It’s very festive music and it needs to be experienced live, so when you write about the CD or something it’s like to trying to write about the subject of sex, but you’re only experience is having seen a porno film. It’s very derivative, you’re not actually there participating.”

"isn’t it weird that people can’t deal with love as an emotion?" Like, what happened to us? Is everything Linkin Park, where...(sings) "the teacher was mean, and nobody knows who I am, and everybody says that I’m..." you know what I mean? (laughs). That high school, everybody’s against me thing doesn’t look good on you when your 29, 30 years old and you’re a multi-millionaire.”