You're in direct contact with the music by having the strings under your fingers. It's not mechanical like a piano.

I learned a lot about lead; you don't have to blow your cookies in the first bar. It is much harder to be simple that to be complicated during solos.

When I first colored my hair, my mother loved it. I got kicked out of school when I was 15, just for my hair.

I came in with a completely new perspective. I would write songs and they would pick tunes they felt were in the Purple vein.

I'll hear something in my head, then eventually play it. But it's a subconscious thing. Most of the time I really don't know what I'm playing.

I started on drums when I was 13 and played them for two years. Then I went to guitar for a year, played keyboards for a year and a half, and went back to guitar.

When I'm with Purple, I'm totally with Purple; when I'm doing my thing, I'm totally doing my own thing.