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We're musicians. We make music for a living. It's that simple. Nothing else matters.
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I'm not a drunk anymore, but since they cut out my tongue, I sound drunk.
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Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it.
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Practice. I used to sit on the edge of my bed with a six-pack of Schlitz Malt talls. My brother would go out at 7pm to party and get laid, and when he'd come back at 3am, I would still be sitting in the same place, playing guitar. I did that for years - I still do that.
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Critics like Elvis Costello because critics are like Elvis Costello.
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Give me a glazed doughnut, and a bottle of anything... to go!
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I just consider myself slightly left-of-center. I'm not your average bear. I - what's the word? I'm not - normal.
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Nobody's going to get a hot dog at my concert!
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There are only so many letters in the alphabet. When I talk to young musicians or authors and they ask for advice, I say, You gotta learn all the letters of your own personal alphabet. With music, you need to know all the different kinds of music and everything in and around your given instrument.
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Van Halen can keep providing the rain and I'll keep providing the parade.
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I've had a hip replacement, I've beaten cancer, I had my hand operation, and I stopped drinking. Something inside of me just went, 'I'm done.'
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You stick your head above the crowd and attract attention and sometimes somebody will throw a rock at you. That's the territory. You buy the land, you get the Indians.
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Some people think a song without words isn't a real song. Tell that to Beethoven and he'll kick your ass!
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My son, Wolfgang, plays drums, guitars and bass.
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Everything I did is because I wanted to do it. If I weren't playing this arena, if I were playing a club, I'd still be doing it because that's what I want to do. I love playing the guitar.
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Music journalists love Elvis Costello and hate me because they look like Elvis Costello...
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The travels before and after the tour are what add up to what you're doing. You are really called into service - and it's the service industry man, it's blue collar man, I'm sweating by the second song. It's construction work from that second song on.
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The piano is a universal instrument. If you start there, learn your theory and how to read, you can go on to any other instrument.
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'For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge' took a year to record; that's why the playing on it might sound somewhat labored. 'Balance,' on the other hand, was written and recorded in only four months, so the whole process was quicker and more immediate.
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Radio as we know it is pretty much changing completely.
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I had written lyrics to a song called The Silent Extreme, which Alex later renamed Humans Being.
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When I'm home on a break, I lock myself in my room and play guitar. After two or three hours, I start getting into this total meditation. It's a feeling few people experience, and that's usually when I come up with weird stuff. It just flows. I can't force myself. I don't sit down and say I've got to practice.
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It's always about the music, never about anything else.
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When Van Halen started out, there was no path to fame. We just played what we liked. Even today it always comes down to the simplicity of rock and roll.