It is only the most elite of elite musicians whose unconventional approach becomes convention.

We may be human, but we're still animals.

I have a deep love for life and my fellow human beings. I try to understand everything that everybody does, even if it seems wrong to me.

If you're feeling emotional when you're creating something, it'll sound that way.

I think the thing that I got most from working with Frank Zappa is that I was able to see someone who completely independent. The most beautiful thing about Frank was that he was completely in the moment and present and eternally creative.

I was about seven or eight years old when I first heard West Side Story, and it had a huge impact on me. If you look at the elements of that record, it contains many of the things I enjoy doing today.

So that's the challenge for me and that has always been the challenge - finding that melody, that riff, that thing that just lights me up and makes me feel like it's Christmas.