Quote

I guess I'd like to have my cake and eat it, too. I want to be known for having a recognizable style. I believe having your own personal identity is what makes you competitive. On the other hand, I would like to be versatile and be challenged to go in new directions.

Cliff Martinez

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Cliff Martinez
Age: 70
Born: 1954
Born: February 2
Composer
Drummer
Film Score Composer
New York City
New York
Style
Versatile
Hand
Challenged
Known
Directions
Makes
Competitive
Hands
Cake
Believe
Guess
Would
Identity
Like
Personal
Recognizable

More quotes by Cliff Martinez

Image
There's nothing worse than a director that keeps changing their mind. Because, unlike the directors I work with, I'm not decisive at all.
Cliff Martinez
Image
It's very important that you never depend on money to fulfill your creative vision. If you do that, you're doomed to fail.
Cliff Martinez
Image
For me, the work begins with a rough cut of the film. I can't do much with the script. I've tried to write music to a script prior to seeing the film, but I've found it turns out to be a waste of time.
Cliff Martinez
Image
I got fed up with being in bands. I spent a couple of years touring the country in a smoked filled band, doing lots of drugs and being really unhealthy.
Cliff Martinez
Image
I was in the Chilli Peppers at the time and I asked myself, would I be able to wear a sock on my genitals at the age of forty and they proved me wrong because I guess they're still doing it.
Cliff Martinez
Image
Singer/songwriters spend two or three years making an album, and then it goes up for sale and everybody pirates it and you don't make any money. Whereas, writing a film score you still get presented with a paycheck.
Cliff Martinez
Image
Composing demands a degree of isolation.
Cliff Martinez
Image
I work at home but average 15,000 to 18,000 miles per year on my Honda.
Cliff Martinez
Image
I've never tried to work chronologically. I don't think I have the discipline to do that.
Cliff Martinez
Image
I think there is quite a continuity over my 25 years of doing music, and I'm always trying to break away from it.
Cliff Martinez
Image
I like challenges and I definitely would like to be more of a chameleon.
Cliff Martinez
Image
Pop music is a fashion, and fashions come and go. The public retires you as their tastes change.
Cliff Martinez
Image
I don't want to be typecast as the 'ambient guy' or someone who only does electronic scores. I think most of the work that comes my way is because people feel they know me musically.
Cliff Martinez
Image
I like directors that give their composer a juicy role in their films. Some films have a small, minor role for music, some have a larger role.
Cliff Martinez
Image
Censorship has kind of disappeared in a way because everything is accessible online.
Cliff Martinez
Image
If you want to survive in the film industry, it's not about fighting for your visions because that's a given. It's thinking about how much is your vision going to cost, and then, what are the consequences, because you may have $100 million, but the reality is that $100 million needs to make $500 million to be a success.
Cliff Martinez
Image
The more I come to understand music, the more I feel like a numbskull because there is always more to learn.
Cliff Martinez
Image
Composers are in some ways the last frontier of musician that gets a paycheck for their musical services.
Cliff Martinez