I think, at the end of the day, we're Americans: that's what we are, and we believe in America.
— David Bryan
I guess, for me, the therapy is walking on stage, playing all of our songs, and walking out. That's probably my therapy. That's a good time.
There's no glamour in stupid mistakes.
We don't want to just be known for what we did. We want to be known for what we do and what we did. We've been highly productive since 2000 when 'Crush' came out.
We thought the hardest thing in the world was to get a record deal, then the hardest was to get a No. 1 record, and then the hardest thing is to stay at the top. It's a lot of work.
The wild thing is that when I'm in the band, I can control my destiny with four other guys. As a composer sitting in the audience, you can throw good vibes at everybody, but you can't control anybody's destiny, so it's really unsettling.
Why would we want to do an experimental album? That's just selfish.
We play anywhere around two, 2 hours, so we're always in shape, but you've got to get yourself in super shape so you can sing that long, play that long, and feel strong.
When I was growing up, there was hate. I looked around and saw that it was so wrong. I got to go round the world with my rock band, and you can bring harmony.
I don't find writing for the theater that different from writing a rock song.
Any honor is an honor. You can't really say which one is better than the next, but it's always wonderful when you're honored by your peers for your work.
I remember, when I was very young and going to the Fillmore East and watching three of my favorite bands in one night, I'd want a hit. I want to hear the songs that brought them to that pinnacle of success.
We really earned our keep by going door to door, going to every town, playing in every club.
When we get on stage, naturally, you just get out there and work it as hard as you humanly possibly can do it.
We've been here since 1983 as a band.
'Memphis' lives in me, and I'm bringing it around the world.
My father was a very big musical influence on me. He was a trumpet player. And that's what I started with. Then, when I was 7, my parents introduced me to the piano.
It's funny - Americans are the colonials who ran away from the royals, and yet we're fascinated by them.
It's so much fun to be on stage and play. It really is.
It's really fun to just stretch out and not have any boundaries or just try something for the craft.
Usually for the tour, there's about 80 songs in our brain.
Every time we do a new record, we do the best we can. For us, every record is stepping into the ring with another heavyweight champion.
I just write the way I feel, and if it feels good to me, hopefully everybody likes it.
Everybody in the world has problems, and the nice thing about entertainment is you get to forget about those problems and have a good time for a couple of hours.
We're a bar band, so we know all the bar songs.
Whether you're black or white, you're a human - and that's what matters.
I love the Memphis sound. When I was 16-and-a-half, with my driver's permit, I was playing New Jersey clubs in a 10-piece band; we had a horn section and would play great, great songs like 'Hold On! I'm Comin'' and 'Knock on Wood' and 'Midnight Hour.'
One of the greatest things about our band is that we bring the American dream to the world. Here's a bunch of kids that were living in nowhere New Jersey, and we made it through a lot of practice and a lot of work and a lot of luck. It shows the world, 'If we did it, you can do it.'
I went to Temple Emanu-El, and my rabbi, Rabbi Landsberg, was a huge influence on me. When I was 7 and went to kindergarten, there he was, a young rabbi who didn't wear a yarmulke and rode a motorcycle.
It's a sense of pride, a sense of you set out to get a record deal, and we got that. We set out to get a No. 1 record, and then we got that. Then you say, 'Wow, that was impossible and now even more impossible is to stay No. 1 and stay current and put out new records that people care about,' and we really stuck to that.
I think 'Slippery When Wet' was the turning point, where our records represent our energy that we do live.
I don't like it when bands don't want to play that one song everybody wants to hear. I think that's cheating everybody, and I think it's selfish of an artist to do that.
I just wanted to release an album of piano music for music's sake. I'm not expecting to sell millions of albums. It's was just nice to be able to sit down at an acoustic piano and make some music.
I'm going to stop when I'm 100. I put a limit on myself.
I think, bad times, I sit down and I play - there's definitely certain songs that touch in certain ways. I go back to 'Moonlight Sonata' by Beethoven; that usually takes care of everything.
You start out with your eyes wide open, and you've got dreams, and we worked really, really hard, and ours came true. So - and we're fortunate enough to keep putting out number one records, and we're fortunate enough to get out there and keep playing, and we truly have a blast.
We have to play 'Livin' on a Prayer,' 'Bad Medicine.' We have to play them, and we want to play them, and that's what we're supposed to do. It's like going to see The Beatles and them not playing your favorite song. It's not the right thing to do.
There's trials and tribulations in a band.
A lot of my friends are doctors, and the difference between me and them is there's no musical emergencies to pull me away from dinner. 'I need the chords for that song right now!' No, it can wait.
People ask me, 'Is there pressure to win a Tony for your next one?' I've got three on my mantelpiece; I'm good. If that's the end of the story, I'm fine.
We strive to have new records. We strive to have new songs on the radio. That feels good that we can gain those new fans and still bring out our fans that have been with us for some of the ride or all of the ride.
Our job is to be performers and give everybody a great night where they can forget about their problems and the world's problems, because they're always going to be there. They were there since the beginning, and they're going to be there until the end.
The Broadway run of 'Memphis' has been like going to the moon. It was so great to actually open at the Shubert Theatre and then amazing to be nominated for eight Tonys and attend all the luncheons and events.
Before 'Memphis,' I had never considered working on a musical. But when Joe DiPietro sent me the script, I heard the entire score in my head.
We love to make records, and we love to tour.
We would say we would play every pay toilet and use our own change. Across America and across the world, we just kept going and going.
I like to see other bands, and I like to hear their songs, but I really like it when they engage the audience.
I've been through a lot of experiences in my life being in the biggest band in the world.
We started out a long time ago, and we've managed to just keep writing current songs and have No. 1 current records.
My muse has always been the piano.
