So Let It Be Written, So Let It Be Done

The Top 19 Rock Quotes of 2003

by Gail "May I Quote You" Worley

No year is ever completely, properly wrapped up and packaged for the history books until I submit my annual "Top 19 Rock Quotes" of that year to Ink19. I got some good ones last year. Feel free to add them to your email program's signature file.

 
Beth Hart
"Sky Full of Clover" means probably the most to me on the record. It's the first time that I think I've been willing to talk about what I really believe. My bottom line is spiritual belief. Basically, no matter how high I've gone in my life, the biggest crashes that I've thought have fucked me up the most have been my greatest gifts from god, because those have been humbling times. For me, being humbled is important because my mind can really go off into "ego land' and that's a dangerous place for me to be. I think the best thing is when I get humbled and then I feel like I'm in touch. I'm in touch with god, I'm in touch with my heart, and that's what that song is really about for me.

-- Beth Hart, singer/songwriter, on her spirituality

When I wake up every morning and realize that I get to go out and do music [laughs] as opposed to having to say, 'Would you like fries with that, sir?' I'm so thankful that I'm actually paid to do this thing that I've loved all my life.

-- Bob Ezrin, producer legend, on his career

All of the songs are about smoking dope and fucking. I mean, some of them are the sadder side of it, and some are the happier side of it (laughs). But basically it all boils down to that.

-- Fisher Meehan, vocalist/guitarist, DrugMoney, on DrugMoney's debut CD, Mtn Cty Jnk.

I don't necessarily analyze the shit out of everything. I just think about whether it gets me off or not.

-- Dustin Hengst, drummer, Damone, on his approach to playing live.

 
Mick Mars
Musicians today have gotten used to Protools, which I hate. You can go into the studio and not even be a musician, just start beating on stuff and they can take parts out of it, move it around and then you can sound like Slash. If you want some kind of weird feedback effect in the middle of a guitar solo, now they can just fly it in. You don't have to sit there and work at it like you did back in the day.

-- Mick Mars, guitarist, Motley Crue, on the woes of modern day recoding technology.

He's a cartoon character that's advanced to action figure status.

-- Ray Luzier, drummer, David Lee Roth Band, on his boss.

 
photo by Paul Harris
Tairrie B.
I've gone through a lot with My Ruin, and my previous band, where I was asked, "How much do you weigh?" I don't hear anyone asking Phil Anselmo how much he weighs…

-- Tairrie B, vocalist, My Ruin, on male chauvinism in the music business.

Maybe it was the Blonde and the Rock Star myth; they think we're just dumb.

-- Nikki Sixx, bassist, Motley Crue and Brides of Destruction, on why he and wife, Donna D'Errico weren't asked any questions during their appearance on Hollywood Squares.

Whenever there's a Republican president, things go shithouse.

-- Andy Granelli, drummer, The Distillers, on Politics.

In the fifty shows we've done, we had one person scream for a Pumpkins song. That's been a pleasant surprise because I was really dreading hearing, "Cherub Rock!" from the crowd. I think people accept that it's a new band and they respect that.

-- Jimmy Chamberlin, drummer, Zwan, on the behavior of Smashing Pumpkins fans at Zwan shows.

 
courtesty www.inertiatic.com
Jon Theodore
Everything is subject to nightly re-interpretation. Every single second is a chance to reinvent the universe; to reconfigure it around you or to reconfigure yourself in it in order to make sense of what you're dealing with.

-- Jon Theodore, drummer, The Mars Volta, on the nature of on-stage improvisation.

I believe everyone has a bit of "Drummer's Envy." There's just something about drumming that makes everybody want to sit behind a kit and wail on it. It's the best thing. There's nothing better in life, really, than playing drums. There really isn't. It's amazing.

-- Chris Harfenist (Tomato 11), vocalist/drummer, The Sound of Urchin, on his theory of Drummer's Envy.

The crowd thinks it's funny to see a guy on stage shaking a pineapple.

-- Mike Marsh, drummer, Dashboard Confessional, on his favorite hand-held percussion instrument

 
Torry Castellano aka Donna C
I think there are misconceptions with songs like "Take It Off" or "Take Me To The Back Seat" that we get a lot [of sex]. But maybe we're just talking about one specific guy that we really like. I think that's a misconception out there, that people think, "Oh God, they're singing about sex. It must mean that they want to have sex with everyone!"

-- Torry Castellano, drummer, The Donnas, confirms that The Donnas are not sluts.

I love the part with Bianca in the studio singing "Love/Hate." That was always one of my favorite songs. Bianca was kind of a little girl in a way. I mean, she was a woman, but she was only 5'4." She was just such a powerhouse, watching her sing that song is like, "Oh man, where is that coming from?" She gave the appearance of being 6 feet tall.

-- Blare N. Bitch, guitarist, ex-Betty Blowtorch, shares a memory of her late bandmate, Bianca Halstead, as captured in the film Betty Blowtorch and Her Amazing True Life Adventures.

We were on the Warped Tour last summer and the day of the second-to-last show we played the Orlando Speedway. We got there at about 6 in the morning. It's like a sauna in Florida in August, so, we left the van running with the air conditioner on and went to sleep. Apparently, our water pump broke and the engine caught on fire. When I think about it now, it reminds me of that part in Planes, Trains & Automobiles where Steve Martin looks over at John Candy and sees him as The Devil on Fire. Some guy from one of the other bands came over and woke us up, "Hey dude, you guys are on fire." Had that not happened we would have all burned to death. So, I guess we're meant to be here.

-- John Garrighan, vocalist/guitarist, The Berlin Project, on near-death experiences.

 
Peter Steele
There's something in Canadian law that an erect penis [photographed in a magazine] has to be held to the side -- I guess so I don't poke anybody's eye out. I don't know. So I was like, "Alright, I can hold it."

-- Peter Steele, vocalist/bassist, Type O Negative, remembers his 1995 PlayGirl photo shoot.

He's one of those people who's hyped so much by the press, you expect his fan base to be every band's ideal fan base. But he's still got the guys who are drinking Miller Light out of plastic cups screaming, 'Play "Loser"!'

-- Mike Lowry, drummer, Lake Trout, on Beck.

We've always fixed things in the studio and it's great when you're mixing, but I still believe in playing the song yourself. I'll tell you, a lot of these Protools engineers should get musician credits [laughs].

-- Tom Kiefer, vocalist/guitarist, Cinderella, echoes the sentiments of Mick Mars. endBlock;



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