Quotes from Kim Shattuck

The one thing about songwriting that's been consistent is that I do it for the love of a good melody.

I've been singing quieter because I live in a thin-walled apartment.

The Pandoras began as a '60s punk group. Then they went pop, then metal. When they went metal, I quit because I hate heavy metal music and I wanted to write my own songs.

I'm glad we're not splattered all over MTV, because I don't think that's entirely the right way to go about building a career. Look at Green Day - they were built up - and then came crashing down. The overexposure is just too much of a burnout for most people.

I saw the Bangles before I was in a band. I really liked their rhythm. That was right when I was trying to learn how to play guitar. I was really frustrated because I couldn't strum, and then I saw Susannah Hoffs do this cool strum on a song, and it was my goal after that to learn how to do that strum.

I love having the control over the end result and not having to go through some committee to get something approved. I feel sorry for people, like actors, because unless you're Woody Allen or Mel Gibson, they don't have much say in the decisions that affect their work.

There was a show at the Mayan in Los Angeles where I got overly enthusiastic and jumped into the crowd, and I know they weren't thrilled about that. When I got offstage the manager told me not to do that again. I said, 'Really, for my own safety?' And he said, 'No, because the Pixies don't do that.'

I hate dancing.

People who like girl bands are really different from regular band fans.

I really like the cute Beatles, the beginning. I don't really like the moustached Beatles very much. And then the hippie Beatles I'm not super-thrilled with, although they had good songs.

I wasn't in any hurry to grow up and become this worldly person.

It was only later that I found out there was good '70s rock like the Raspberries and the Flaming Groovies. I always gravitated toward the '60s music more, though, like the Kinks, the Who and the Beatles, of course.

I got sick and tired of hearing bands that didn't mean anything to me. I mean, there are some bands out there that are good, but if you want to hear stuff you want to hear, you got to do it yourself.

Honestly, it's hard to play with a lot of intensity night after night.

Sometimes I'll go without writing for a while and I'll start to be driven nuts. I start doubting my writing ability. So I'll sit down and a dozen songs will pop out. It's fun.

I've actually said 'get off my grass' to people before. They were skateboarding on my grass!

When I wanted to join the Pandoras, my mom had an anxiety attack.

I like Dave Davies from the Kinks, before he could play slick.

The Beatles were a huge influence on me to write really good melodies.

I like inventive melodies and chord changes, a little bit of creativity.

I'm not an amazing engineer; I'm just super basic. I'm pretty cavalier about it - I stick the mic wherever it sounds good.

You can tell a dumb guy a mile away.

I've always had something turning in my brain. And it got to a point where I felt it was stupid to let some of the tunes die. So I began putting them down on paper.

All the best bands have to have more than just one strong songwriter.