Quotes from Mike Campbell

I think that the future of the world isn't something you can ignore.

The Knobs started out as a project to do between Heartbreakers tours. I met the guys very organically, and I didnt really intend to audition a band, per se. But I had some songs and we just hit it off.

If I had to pick one guitar to take to a desert island, I'd pick my '67 Rickenbacker 12-string, which I bought a couple of tours ago in New Jersey. The '67 is George-style from A Hard Day's Night, with the double binding. It's just like heaven. It sounds incredible.

I have a band called the Dirty Knobs that Ive had for probably 15 years now, and Ive worked with them between Heartbreakers tours, mostly just playing clubs and little theaters around L.A.

I grew up in the 60s, and before the 60s, my father was into Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, so I heard those records all the time and soaked that up.

Its hard to explain if youve never done it, but youve got five guys in the studio, and youve got high expectations. Youve got a log of money involved, and your life and your dreams and all of your desires fall to making this song sound great for three minutes.

Because we recorded in the studio, basically live, when we went to rehearse, we kind of already knew how to play the songs. But I also will take liberties with the Dirty Knobs. If I want a solo to go on longer or if I want to throw in a song thats not in the setlist, we can do it.

I never wanted to be a solo artist. I always wanted to be in a band.

I love AC/ DC and I love Led Zeppelin and I love guitar riffs.

Songwriting is such a mysterious thing. Its a magical channel thats a gift to you and you cant really conjure it up when you want it to. It could pop up when youre driving or out having dinner.

If you're really careful to keep the monitors not too loud, if you're lucky, you get a little bit of nice bleed between the instruments. The guitars might spill a little bit into the drums, or the drums might spill a little bit onto the piano. Just a little bit of that makes a glue for the whole thing to sound more real.

We went back to England later on with Bob Dylan, and we met George Harrison and Jeff Lynne. That was a pretty big deal to me. George was so kind. We understood each other mutually, and same with Jeff.

Generally, I wouldnt spend a lot of time on a solo. Id try to catch something out of the air spontaneously.

Madison Square Garden is a big deal.

Well, every nights gonna be different. I dont even know what were going to play the next two nights. But thats the exciting part of it.

Youre right, I do write a lot. In some ways, staying home and not being able to tour was kind of normal for me. Because when Im home, Im very active with writing and I have a studio here.

The album format is what we grew up on. Its what we aspired to when we were first discovering music - its what's what we know. We actually talked about this because nowadays, with iTunes and everything, there's a lot of pressure to get this track and that track, whatever.

Im a product of my influences, and those are the 60s. All analog. I loved the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Stones - and then later on, of course, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix.

Sometimes when you start writing a song, you dont know where theyre going to lead you. You just kind of follow the ideas that come in. Its all kind of stream of consciousness. Thats whats so fascinating about songwriting. Its kind of magical.

I believe strongly that you just take whatever the gift has given you that day. You dont say, Oh, this is the wrong well, so Im not going to take it! You take what youre given, and hope its from a good place.