Bill Wyman Quotes

With the Rhythm Kings, I can involve myself in arranging and producing the music as well as the choice of songs.

There are things that I am very proud of and there are things that you are not so proud of. But I think that applies to any musician.

The Stones always tried to do the odd smaller gig when they could.

I didn't want to stay in the Stones, and be stuck in a position having to play a music I didn't like anymore and that restricted me from doing all the others things I'm interested in because of time.

I live in a house that was built in 1480. It has a moat around it. It is like a little baby castle.

I always say that I am very proud of the work that I did with the Rolling Stones and that I am also proud of what I have done with the Rhythm Kings.

You could put Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley on one side of the stage, and James Brown on the other, and you wouldn't even notice the others were there!

Because of the fashion, the young people don't have any access to the history of music, unless people like me revive it. There are very few people to revive it, because you can't earn any money doing it.

I'm not an upfront person. Being upfront is not my forte. I'm quite happy to stay in the back there with the drums, where I belong.

But why is it that in music, anything more than 5 years old - apart from a few hits - is never played on radio to the young public?

I'm always shy in front of an audience, so I'm always at the back, in the shadows, just doing it. I don't like the front, the adulation.

I always listen to a lot of different music when I am working on a project.

The first records I heard were from Dizzy Gillespie and people like that.

Everything had to be done in-between Stones time.

When I record in a studio I don't use an amp. I go directly into the board, so I can get that very fat, full sound - which is my favorite sound.

I can't really sing and play live, because I can't play bass efficiently and sing at the same time. If I concentrated on the vocals, I'd mess up the bass, and if I concentrated on the bass, I'd forget the lines.

My first record I owned was by Les Paul.

I'm not a musician, I just play bass.

I was listening to music long before rock 'n roll.

I am much more my own man than I was when I was with the Stones.

All of my books are about researching. I do all the research and I give it to a writer who can put it in the written word better than I could.

I had a wonderful time with the Stones but after 31 years, I thought it was time to move on.

You're always frustrated, you don't have the chance to do a song on the album, like the Beatles did with Ringo and George, or like Led Zeppelin, where everybody was given a chance to contribute. There never is a chance with the Stones.

I always got great respect as a bass player.

I don't make any money.

I open events for museums and I do charity work and photography.

Onstage I like to play with a an 18-inch speaker, which very few bass players do. I need that fat, underneath sound, which I've always had. It suits me admirably to do it like that, and I can imitate that sound by plugging directly into the board in the studio.

You never know what your next dig is going to find.

It's all right leaping about the stage when you're 20 but when you get to 25 it gets a bit embarrassing

I love to play smaller crowds with the Rhythm Kings.

If you are any competent musician, if you have creative ideas, ideas of songs, of arrangements, in a band like the Stones, where these 2 people do all the things, there is no freedom.