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.

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.

I want the music to be ambiguous. Its tone gives you a context in which to start visualizing what you're feeling with the music.

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

It can and will be a more powerful sound but the orchestra has far more potential for expressive power. When I hear a great rock band it can make me feel alive, but when I hear a great orchestra it can make me feel human.

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

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.