Quotes About Artistry

For me it all started with two turntables and a mixer.

I started drag at 15 years old.

I started rejecting the proper way to sing and I started singing.

My real name is Scott Thompson. I could have gone by that name, but when I started doing comedy I thought I needed to go by something that has a little more of a hook.

I'm responsible for starting a whole new school of pretension.

A sad truth I learned as a DP starting out was that it doesn't matter how beautiful I make it if the story and performance are not there. That should be number one.

I think when we were starting out, it was more about imitating our songwriting heroes. We would try to write songs like Neil Finn, or we would try to write songs like Ray Davies, or we would try to write songs like Glenn Tilbrook.

Although I was not a crafter before starting the business, I find it relaxing.

One of my big fears is people saying my songs are all starting to sound the same.

Being a recording artist, selling music, selling concerts out, having a reality show, starting film; it's great, it's beautiful.

My music is just about story telling. I don't have much to say, and I'm not trying to change anyone's mind. I'm just singing through conviction about what I love and what I care about, starting with the very small.

At one point when I was very young, when I was first starting out, I thought, 'Well, one day I'll be able to put all the music away and become a real comedian.' But then I realized there are amazing musical comedians out there, that musical comedy is probably something I'll always want to pursue.

I put out an album once every four or five years and it's kind of like starting over every time.

Every song I write, including 'Too Close,' always starts on the guitar.

The way I do it is there's never recording 'sessions.' One finishes, the next one starts. It's just continuous.

If you have a great-sounding guitar that's a quality instrument and a good amp, and you know how to make the guitar talk, that's the key. It starts with the guitar and knowing what it should sound and feel like.

That's what I miss out of all this synthesized music - it starts to lose dynamics.

Everything starts and ends with the song, and working with writers and really learning their process and craft was an invaluable experience.

First and foremost, it's got to be on the page. It starts with the writing.

I can't sculpt. But if I were a sculptor, as you start to get something that actually looks like what you want, then it starts to be fun. That's the way I find writing.

Artists don't have to starve any more.

In my early days, I was about 145 pounds. I was really a starving artist; the poster child for starving artists.

When you're a starving artist, you make do. It didn't matter that I didn't know where my rent was coming from.

To be an artist is not a matter of making paintings or objects at all. What we are really dealing with is our state of consciousness and the shape of our perceptions.