John Oates
Young people go to concerts.
The decline of the major labels has changed the audience. They aren't force-fed by a system any more. They can make their own decisions.
The bricks and mortar of the music business, they don't exist any longer.
Jam Cruise is actually a comfortable place for me. My jamming skills and my improvisational skills have improved immensely as I've gone more solo, because I've had this opportunity.
I used to love assemblies because it got me out of class.
The mustache represented the old John; I didn't want to be that guy anymore, so I shaved it off. It was ritualistic in a way.
I didn't make a solo album until the year 2000.
I have such a wide variety of tastes in things that I like musically.
The world has accelerated to the point that, as far as the album as a form, I don't know if it's going to last that much longer.
There's a lot of craft in songwriting. The divine inspiration is when the idea comes. It may be a riff. It may be a word. It may be a phrase. It may be a title. Sometimes, in the best of both worlds, that divine inspiration extends through the whole song. I've literally sat down and written a song from beginning to end, almost complete lyrics and everything without ever stopping...in two minutes. The chorus of 'She's Gone' was like that.Collection: Song
My guitar playing is a synthesis of traditional American acoustic style and Urban Pop and RB.Collection: Guitar