Quotes from Duncan Sheik

I got a publishing deal with BMG, they were supportive, and some money to record demos

I try to make sure that the Buddhism is more or less implicit in the music rather than explicit

I'm fortunate I have this coterie of musicians around me to help take music to next level. Being surrounded by so much creative energy, so many creative people really feeds that creativity in me

I'd have these weird experiences where I'd just be walking down the street with this chord progression in my head, this happened more than a few times, and I'd walk home and find a fax in my machine and it would match the music in my head.

Because of my Buddhist practice, I'm never lacking for inspiration.

I wouldn't say that I've had a tough life by any stretch of the imagination.

I actually think sadness and darkness can be very beautiful and healing.

So I started chanting when I was nineteen, which was about twelve years ago, and it really had a huge impact on my outlook, happiness, and general creativity.

My second record was all about big ideas - I was trying to make big statements about the culture, about life. I think in a certain way, I was a 27 year old kid with a guitar

Happy music doesn't tend to move me much.

I certainly wouldn't say that my life is a disaster, but there have been moments where I've felt like that

And frankly, when I made that record, hit songs were not what I was trying to achieve.

I think my Buddhist practice has a profound influence on my life and encompasses my creative projects

I wouldn't say that I've had a tough life by any stretch of the imagination.

Simon Hale, the British arranger, does all string and wood arrangements on my records.

For my second record I had gotten ProTools (program) and started to familiar myself with hard disc recording.

I'm a pretty big P.J. Harvey record fan and you can really hear New York in his record.

Lately I've been a workaholic. I'm in the studio all the time and I've helped to produce a couple of artists.

Things come to me pretty regularly. There is never a shortage or a backlog.

A real foolproof way to do it is play your stuff by hook or by crook and build up a grass roots following.

But really important, perhaps most important is the craft; how you make your record, the creation of these sonic worlds you want your listener to hear.

The experiences of promoting my first album were really something; there is so much illusion in my environment (touring and pop music) that I wanted to clear away.

It's inevitable your environment will influence what you do.

I also wanted to make a record that was about other things than romance, yeah, after two years on the road singing all the songs from the first album, I got kind of tired of that.