I really feel instrumental music can speak - can contain tremendous amounts of information - but it's speaking to your subconscious.

Occasionally I hear a band that blows me away. For instance, there's a musician in Oakland named Weasel Walter who has a band called the Flying Luttenbachers. Go see the Flying Luttenbachers when they're in your town. He's one of the greatest rock composers who ever lived, and he's struggling and living like a poverty-stricken hermit.

One hundred guitarists making lots of noise would not be something you'd want to listen to.

I'm constantly revising and updating a piece until it's finally recorded. Once it's recorded, then it's over.

It scares me that people are going to stop writing music. I don't mean music that has to be physically written down, but they'll stop using their brain which is without a doubt the most powerful tool that you could have in any art.

It's a mysterious thing that a whole generation of young people can come up and see and understand things that previous generations weren't able to see or understand.

It's crucial that people are on the right measure at the right time.