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Artist Quotes



"Being a cover artist is not like being a real artist. That's just copying what someone else did."


"Of course we've been fighting against stereotypes from Day One at East West. That's the reason we formed: to combat that, and to show we are capable of more than just fulfilling the stereotypes - waiter, laundryman, gardener, martial artist, villain."



"But, when I toil in the field of Jewish culture which I frequently do, I am indeed a Jewish artist."


"Yeah, I really like being alive. But I definitely don't have any intentions as an artist."


"Style is the most valuable asset of the modern artist. That's probably why so many styles are reported lost or stolen each year."


"I am no longer afraid of becoming lost, because the journey back always reveals something new, and that is ultimately good for the artist."


"As an artist, you're pretty sheltered backstage. You often don't know what's going on out there."



"It betrays hubris on the part of the artist to think his medium is limiting him, and I think we all recognize this."


"You have to write badly to write at all. If it's crappy, I will rewrite it later. But it will be mine. You can hear the resonance of an artist who goes into herself."



"But it becomes disrespectful when the artist's process is not respected."


"It's very difficult for me to dislike an artist. No matter what he's creating, the fact that he's experiencing the joy of creation makes me feel like we're in a brotherhood of some kind... we're in it together."



"I think I've grown a lot in the last few years, and I needed to express myself as an artist on this. It wasn't necessarily about going in and making an album chocked full of hit singles... there were a lot of things I did out of the joy and the want to do it."


"Back in the 60s, San Francisco artists lived in communes."


"To the extent that '60s guys own things, yes... but I don't have the publishing, just like most '60s guys, and that was an error, you know... part ownership in publishing was the kind of era that started a little bit later, when real businessmen started to manage artists."


"I would hardly call myself an artist in that sense; I doodle, I draw, I'm not a trained artist, I couldn't sit down and do an accurate portrait of anyone."


"I've always wanted to be a real universal artist, one that every type of audience could relate to."


"That is what the title of artist means: one who perceives more than his fellows, and who records more than he has seen."



"Chet loved artists. He did. But he was caught up in the system. He had two hats. He had to have 'em because he did two things: he was an artist, and he was an executive."


"I like to make records sound good. I'm more like a reducer than a producer. If an artist cannot produce themselves, what's the point?"



"So there was a way for you to get promoted and survive as an artist without worrying about AM radio hits."
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