I don't listen to a lot of music any more and even the people I've loved for years - the Nick Drakes of this world - I can't go back to them and listen to them over and over.

Sometimes a little compromise isn't a bad thing. You don't need to be precious about it.

People are afraid to ask musicians to be involved in projects because they anticipate being turned down. Young artists hesitate before contacting me. People in my position don't get approached often enough.

The public so often want to freeze the artist in a moment in time when they were at their peak, and they want the artist to revisit it over and over again as if it was something authentic.

Zen Buddhism is a discipline where belief isn't necessary.

During the lifetime of Japan I became very neurotic, very paranoid.

I knew that I had to find my own voice, both figuratively and literally.