Quotes from Lou Barlow

My experience with Dino Jr. proved that making new music was a worthwhile pursuit.

I was cripplingly shy. When I was in high school, my teachers thought I was mentally disabled because I wouldn't be able to say anything or do anything. They thought I didn't speak.

To bicker over what could have been is silly.

I just like it when I can understand things, and the simpler it is, the easier it is to understand.

Simplicity is at the core of Sebadoh.

I had a very strong 'revertigo' for becoming the kid that I was when I was in Dinosaur Jr. That's a pretty insecure place that I was in.

From when I young, a lot of the things I grappled with, with instruments, was how large they were. When someone places a large guitar in your lap, it's hard - I'd learned how to play a guitar when I was a kid, but I never really felt like I was in control.

Music doesn't always bring me to tears; if I hear "Love" by John Lennon at a vulnerable moment it will bring me to tears.

I look forward to so many things about going to Japan. The shows are early. It's great! They're really early, so it helps make dealing with jetlag a little easier.

It's weird to say, but Sebadoh is kind of Dinosaur Jr. Jr. My two bandmates in the early Sebadoh era, Jason Lowenstein and Jeff Gaffney, were huge Dinosaur fans. They were very influenced by Dinosaur.

Someone who's a really good engineer is someone who's a little bit smarter than you but who also listens to you and doesn't impose agendas.

To be doing interviews in 2006 for a band I was kicked out of in 1989 - a band that I never thought I would play for again - in a way, it's weird.

I hear people telling me a lot that the production of that particular record - 'One Part Lullaby' - really influenced them. I'm like, 'What? We were dropped from the label after that!'

I wrote 'Healthy Sick,' from our first LP, when I was 19. I'll happily play it till I'm 91 because it always feels good and truthful.

I just write... I follow the melodies that I can't forget/the ones that pop up in my brain the most.

I remember being inspired by this band Godflesh, actually. They were a really heavy metal band, really nihilistic.

I'm a huge Zombies fan.

'One Part Lullaby.' It was our big major-label record. People reference it quite a bit, but it did absolutely nothing. It's like the 'Kids' soundtrack. It did nothing. It didn't start anything for me.

When I was a teenager, my mom got me a really nice baritone ukulele.

The first songs I ever wrote - my first, like, serious offerings - were all written on ukulele. It's always been a part of the way I write for a really long time.

I don't focus on one thing. I play guitar and bass and keyboards and drums, but I never stay on anything long enough to become a specialist at it.

I really don't have a method. I gravitate towards the organic/acoustic, but I still often complete songs musically before attempting to find the lyric.

Early on, I really liked the idea of being confrontational. I loved the idea of making songs that made people really uncomfortable.

That's what I've figured out over the years - the way I write makes people feel uncomfortable.