“I’m uptight in general, and it’s hard for me to play in a situation where I’m not rehearsed or I feel like I’m not prepared. So it’s always hard for me to come away from those and think it was the best thing I could do.”

There’s a difference between music that’s original and music that’s retro. A lot of bands now are kind of retro 70s whether it’s Kraut-rock or… I’ve heard people suggest that we’re kind of retro 80s.

I don’t think I had a specific moment when I thought, “I’m not going to play music anymore.” I just played less and got involved in other things.

It’s hard to go out in front of people with an acoustic guitar and improvise for 30 or 40 minutes, but I had a compulsion to do it. I just had to in a way that I can’t really explain.

With Fred McDowell, I just love the way he articulates the notes. I’m hardly unique in that, but there’s just something about that that I love.

I did pull out my old Telecaster, and have been thinking I’d like to play that loud with a drummer. But I haven’t actually done that yet.

I definitely have a different perspective on music in general. But once I actually have a guitar in my hands, I think I disappear into the same black hole that I was disappearing into when I was 15.

So a lot of traditional rock sounds, you can’t play them. But to be honest, there was no particular intention when I started playing with four strings. It just worked out that way and it sounded cool.

With a four-string, the middle range is less of an option. That kind of 5th that you play on those A and D strings isn’t there.

I was so happy and content with in life playing music. Music was always my first job and my day gig was my second job.

I had been playing with my local band, Skinny Cat. I had been to quite a few auditions before UFO, managed to get the gig and then not want to do it!

After all, the average playing life of a pro football player is about eight years and it is only fitting that the veterans get something for their efforts.

After the band loaded in and the curtain opened, we realized there was exactly one paying customer in the audience.

The only pictures worth making are the ones that are playing with fire.

And often, I sort of get into a state, a creative state that is, where I’m just feeling around melodically, and playing things off the top of my head.

I always listen, I ask children, I even ask adults in tennis, “What are your children playing?” And most of the time it’s not tennis. It’s pathetic.

You’re never going to see me playing a buffoon.