Quotes About Artistry

I have always believed that indie music is the space where the real music actually happens, which actually sets the trend.

I think, as an artist, part of your job is being aware of what's going on around you and not selling out and not following the trend, which I'm totally against.

As a designer, I'm not interested in trend.

I don't believe in a composer who is only able to compose, who can't play or conduct, can only use a computer. If that trend continues there will be no more symphonies, no more oratorios.

People get caught up in making music with a trend. You're time stamping your music and I'm guilty of it to. But, I want to make music where five, ten years from now it brought back a memory or brought an emotion out of them they want to feel.

When it came to my art, I went my own way and did not follow the trends.

If I was a fashion designer just following trends or designing for celebrities, I would not be fulfilled.

I want to stay away from trends and do what we want to do musically.

I think, as an artist, you definitely have to evolve. I've learned that that's very important. However, you have to stay true to yourself while also keeping up with the trends in music and this industry.

I have the sensation of doing something good for people, more than being a trendy artist or a successful artist.

My concepts are never bright ideas; they're never notions I think will sell or be trendy or attract new fans. I don't think that way. All I can do is sing from my life.

You want everybody to like your work, but when you look at what's fashionable or trendy, it's pretty obvious that I don't exactly fit.

We don't go around the world counting ticket and record sales, nor do we glue our ears to the radio to hear what's trendy at the moment - we're not that type of band.

I always tell young film-makers, 'Find the song that only you can sing.' It doesn't just come to you. It's trial and error and disappointment before you find, slowly but surely, the confidence to express your film-making identity.

I want people to know that I'm not just 'Chillin' It.' I'm a real person. There's heartbreak and trials, and I hope I put that in my music.

I play guitar, I jam on the piano, drums, and even the triangle.

We could easily have made 'Arise II' and plenty of fans would have been happy, and we probably would have been OK with that, too. But it was much more exciting coming up with fresh, new stuff like 'Refuse/Resist' which had this crazy, heavy groove on it and 'Territory,' which just had these tribal beats and catchy, weird riffs.

I wanted to make something that reminded people of the way albums used to feel. I wanted something as good as the stuff put out by the Bomb Squad, or Dr. Dre and his production crew, or 'A Tribe Called Quest.' I miss albums like those.

I like tinkering with the tribe beat boxes and love using Reason as a beefed up beat box.

It wasn't until I found my tribe of artists - people who were outspoken and not afraid to say what they thought, whether in a song or a dance or a piece of classical music - that I found a refuge.

There are other writers who try for subtle and minimalists effects, but I don't travel in that tribe.

When I think of the trials and tribulations that black men go through in America and that black artists went through, I feel very privileged.

I had an invitation to contribute a track to a Robert Johnson tribute album, and it was the first time I'd done anything like that in my life. I was not brought up with the blues or anything like that, and I really, really enjoyed it.

Tribute bands have kind of taken over the market, and I don't want to come across as being that.