Salt Lake's got a cool vibe.
— Kim Shattuck
Sometimes I'll go without writing for a while and I'll start to be driven nuts. I start doubting my writing ability. So I'll sit down and a dozen songs will pop out. It's fun.
I gravitated toward photography. That's what I really did well.
I always complain.
I am a perfectionist and the only reason why I started producing is because I didn't want to argue with a producer.
I like clubs, I like sweat, I like people right up in my space.
It was only later that I found out there was good ‘70s rock like the Raspberries and the Flaming Groovies. I always gravitated toward the ‘60s music more, though, like the Kinks, the Who and the Beatles, of course.
I'm a huge fan of sing-songy lyrics and loud guitars. Whatever punk band does that gets a gold star!
I hate it when songwriters go on and on with the same idea.
A lot of people accuse me of copying Courtney Love.
I'm glad we're not splattered all over MTV, because I don't think that's entirely the right way to go about building a career. Look at Green Day - they were built up - and then came crashing down. The overexposure is just too much of a burnout for most people.
People that don't talk are constipated. I'm sorry, but if you can't communicate, what do you have? You have nothing.
I really like the cute Beatles, the beginning. I don't really like the moustached Beatles very much. And then the hippie Beatles I'm not super-thrilled with, although they had good songs.
I wanted to play the drums, but I had no rhythm.
You can tell a dumb guy a mile away.
I had heard a live show, where my voice didn't sound the way I wanted to hear it and I got paranoid. I'm not an amazing singer, I just belt it out in this crappy old way, but for a while I had it in my head that I couldn't sing.
I've got too much fire in my blood.
I've always had something turning in my brain. And it got to a point where I felt it was stupid to let some of the tunes die. So I began putting them down on paper.
I think real life is weirder than fiction.
I wasn't in any hurry to grow up and become this worldly person.
All the songs that I'm not sure are good, everyone likes the best.
People get sucked into being so show-bizy. I mean this is show biz, but I just can't do anything that's not in my DNA.
I hate dancing.
I grew up around religious and elevator music. I didn't know any better, so I just thought music was kind of bland. So I didn't listen to much as kid.
For a show, I can bear a little longer than 45 minutes, not including encores.
I was going through a lot of upheavals in my brain. The only way I could really get stuff out was to write songs.
Heavy metal is the enemy. Everybody but me keeps going back and forth between metal and punk, but I'm narrow-minded and a purist. I'd never mess with it.
I love having the control over the end result and not having to go through some committee to get something approved. I feel sorry for people, like actors, because unless you're Woody Allen or Mel Gibson, they don't have much say in the decisions that affect their work.
People say I sound a lot like the Ramones and it's probably because I'm influenced by the same '60s groups, but I was never a strict Ramones fan.
The Beatles were a huge influence on me to write really good melodies.
One thing I learned is that I don't want to be in an all-girl band again. Besides, most of my friends are guys, anyway.
I'm not an amazing engineer; I'm just super basic. I'm pretty cavalier about it - I stick the mic wherever it sounds good.
I just don't like to do photography for money.
There was a show at the Mayan in Los Angeles where I got overly enthusiastic and jumped into the crowd, and I know they weren't thrilled about that. When I got offstage the manager told me not to do that again. I said, 'Really, for my own safety?' And he said, 'No, because the Pixies don't do that.'
I got sick and tired of hearing bands that didn't mean anything to me. I mean, there are some bands out there that are good, but if you want to hear stuff you want to hear, you got to do it yourself.
When I wanted to join the Pandoras, my mom had an anxiety attack.
I've been singing quieter because I live in a thin-walled apartment.
The whole idea of doing an album is overwhelming sometimes. But, I get inspired when I get inspired and that's when it flows easily.
I really can't categorize the Muffs music.
People who like girl bands are really different from regular band fans.
I always liked really heavy guitar music, but didn't like the long-winded songs that went with it. And I always liked pop songs, but was driven nuts because the guitars were so wimpy sounding. So I decided to put the two together. That's how the Muffs started.
I like inventive melodies and chord changes, a little bit of creativity.
When people hear sing-songy melodies, they think the lyrics will be nice, too. I guess there's a depressing or psychotic side to my personality that pops out in the lyrics.
I have that weird thing where, if someone confronts me, I just get as bold as possible.
Honestly, it's hard to play with a lot of intensity night after night.
I really liked the Sex Pistols when they came out and I thought they had a lot of melody.
I'm a basically decent person.
The Pandoras began as a ‘60s punk group. Then they went pop, then metal. When they went metal, I quit because I hate heavy metal music and I wanted to write my own songs.
The one thing about songwriting that's been consistent is that I do it for the love of a good melody.
All the best bands have to have more than just one strong songwriter.
