I'm not really satisfied with anything I have written to date.

I want to take some jams and really concentrate on hooking up with Page because, since he's the only one not next to me, and his sound is mainly coming from my monitor rather than through the air, it's a little harder for me to hook up with him.

I'm not really satisfied with anything I have written to date.

Elektra has no control over the live show, at least.

I'm always interested in mixing technology and music. You know, maybe I'll have a MIDI bass pickup at some point, I don't really think that's the direction I would want to go.

Lately Fish and I have been hooking up more, which is a good thing because it's just been a struggle for me as a bass player to play with someone who's so creative on the drums, and lately it's been really good, especially during sound checks.

I think one thing that helped the sound change, it's a real subtle thing; it's just one switch on my bass, it has three positions, and I usually boost the mid-range frequency, I lowered the frequency that I boost, and that goes out to the sound system, too.

Last tour my bass rig was breaking down every other night. That was a pain. We would get on stage and Trey would count off the song, and I'd play the first note and nothing would be there. Those guys would just roll their eyes.

I want to get an handful of spare basses to use first of all if mine breaks, and second, to learn some things about aspects of basses that I like, so Paul can build those aspects into it.

I don't really have a favorite bass player. I listen to a lot of bluegrass. But then again, I'm not a typical bluegrass bass player. I was really into the Grateful Dead, and I still am - I don't listen to them too much, but for me they are a big influence.

This is my second bass that Paul built me. There were some changes that were made. Sometimes I think of changes that could be made having to do with both the sound and the feel. It's definitely a beautiful instrument.

I agree with the rest of the band, that a truly synthesized sound isn't really what I would want to go for.

It's really important for the bass and the drums to somehow blend.

I haven't written enough songs to be able to say that I have a system. I've only written a handful.

There's no way we could play a country song as well as a country band or a Latin song as well as a Latin band. We could never expect to do that. We just keep doing what we do, what we know how to do. We sound like ourselves.

I feel like I want to write some songs and I don't know how to go about doing it. Usually it's the lyrics that are a problem, and I think I am not really cut out to be a lyricist.

A lot of the great songwriters in history have been collaborators, with a separate lyricist.

Travelling to different countries is a goal. I wouldn't mind playing huge places if we got an opportunity to, but it's nice to play small places too. Fish was saying yesterday that he doesn't ever want to play stadiums, or maybe he would once, he said.

If part of the purpose of making an album is to get some radio play, then you might as well think about that. But that's not really how we picked the songs.

I like to be sort of grounded with Fish. But, at the same time, I think probably what's unique about us is the way other dynamics happen, where I'll play off Trey for awhile. When we start playing a jam, I don't usually know what's going to happen, I don't have a plan.

I'm not really allowed to talk about the Dead though. I think when we are at our best, we definitely do things that the Dead or no other band could do. We explore things and take things to the extreme.

We have been trying to play a lot of different kinds of music, and probably the next album will go back more towards the direction where you couldn't classify each song as a certain kind of music. This album you can.

The worst thing I could be thinking is how could I be a cool bass player.

Surrender to the flow.

The way that we imitate each others' riffs is something that other bands don't do as much. If we're jamming with a jazz band, or I am jamming with a jazz band, I have to catch myself, the tendency is always to do that.

Its really important for the bass and the drums to somehow blend.

Metaphysical speculation is about as pointless as a discussion on the meaning of one's lungs. They're for breathing.

Bands like R.E.M. and even The Replacements, during that initial wave of college rock, would sell 40, 50, 100,000 copies of a record, and that would be seen as extremely successful - and definitely enough to keep doing more.

As to my success here I cannot say much as yet: the Indians seem generally kind, and well-disposed towards me, and are mostly very attentive to my instructions, and seem willing to be taught further.

I was in New York City on 9/11. Grief remains from that awful day, but not only grief. There is fear, too, a fear informed by the knowledge that whatever my worst nightmare is, there is someone out there embittered enough to carry it out.

It's wonderful to be back. Back among the mountains that remind us of our vulnerability, our ultimate lack of control over the world we live in. Mountains that demand humility, and yield so much peace in return.

It's generally more fun playing the villain.

The Cold War went on for so long that it bred a kind of worldwide military establishment. Even when budgets went down in the early and mid nineties it didnt really affect it.

One of the simplest ways to stay happy is by letting go of the things that make you sad.

If somebody wants to have plastic surgery, more power to them. I think there's a point where you go overboard.

My grandmother always used to wear this English perfume called Tuberose and then she died and then I dated this girl who wore the same thing. Every time I hung out with her, I could only think of my recently deceased grandmother. So sometimes a signature scent can be good and sometimes it can be bad.

On stage, it is a tremendous thing to be able to make people laugh. But one of the things that I have always loved is when I am in shows where you can turn the audience upside down and make them cry or move them. That is when things are the most rewarding.

For example, a breakthrough in better batteries could supplant hydrogen. Better solar cells could replace or win out in this race to the fuel of the future. Those, I see, as the three big competitors: hydrogen, solar cells and then better batteries.

A man is incomplete until hes married. After that hes finished.

You couldn't have fed the '50s into a computer and come out with the '60s.

When you talk about a great actor, you're not talking about Tom Cruise. His whole behavior is so shocking. It's inappropriate and vulgar and absolutely unacceptable to use your private life to sell anything commercially, but I think it's kind of a sickness.

I can see myself doing production work and handling projects behind the scenes.

I was scouted by this talent scout back home. She found me because I used to make my dad these CDs of my music, and I think that some guy that he worked with had a niece who worked with the talent scout, or something really drawn out, kind of word-of-mouth.

The one thing thats going to get you through this business is having strong roots being grounded and knowing what is true.

In school I studied international business and marketing, so I've always been attracted to business.

You've got to allow yourself the things you enjoy or you'll just be miserable.

The idea of sitting at home, not making music, just makes me want to throw up.

I thought writing about somebody current would be a little closer to what I'm used to doing.

Having been let out of the barn once, I know I wouldn't be happy if I were home all the time.