I just think that with music, it's kind of like life, and so the people you work with, you generally develop a relationship. You don't have to try to explain things. You just know. It's like you're in the band together and striving for the same goal.
— Ariel Rechtshaid
Hip-hop has never had boundaries - the more adventurous it is, the more popular it seems to be.
I try not to become friends with musicians, but life happens and dinner happens and going out happens - it becomes interwoven in L.A.
If the chemistry between me and the artist is good, then that's half the battle.
It was very punk rock for me to take a stab at working with Justin Bieber. I don't know how people portray that, or 'Climax,' for that matter. But for me, it was the most adventurous thing I could have done at that exact moment.
I was a snot-nosed teenage skater at one point, who listened to only punk records and hung around people that had that idea of what is okay to do and what isn't okay to do.
I'm still an idealist. My manager is always trying to talk me out of it, but that's just the way I am.
I have a hard time repeating myself.
I like to find an artist who inspires me and get into their world and challenge them.
I have the utmost respect for synthesizers - Soft Cell, early Depeche Mode. But that's become a cliche for the '80s.
I would rather fall flat on my face than try to just make a quick dollar by making music that fits into the radio format right now. It does nothing for me.
I was never in the business of trying to put my name out there - I was really focused on music and records and being in the studio.
I realized I liked being in the studio and working on translating the ideas into recordings.
It's been said to me that I'm self-destructive because I'll walk away from things that are good.
The goal is to make something that sounds new and different.
The best bands kept making records and had this evolution, where by the end, by their commercial phase or sellout phase, the records are from outer space.
I think something I've been drawn to about the people I work with is that they seem to be - like me - people who are a little insane, and have to make music. It's not a choice they're making for the sake of vanity - like it's cool to be in a band.
I've always had this impression that notoriety came when you're trying to get notoriety.
