Whatever works for the piece I'm thinking about is the way I write.

I think of myself of a primitivist. I have never had any of these electronic instruments and I have never had the slightest interest in using them. I use the computer as a tool, simply because it makes composing a lot faster. But I don't go on stage with a computer and make a lot of goofy sounds.

I'm never happy with anything.

It's a mysterious thing that a whole generation of young people can come up and see and understand things that previous generations weren't able to see or understand.

I'm just not arbitrarily choosing to have five guitars play one type of thing. In that way there's a definite similarity between a symphony orchestra and the 100 guitar symphony.

I really feel instrumental music can speak - can contain tremendous amounts of information - but it's speaking to your subconscious.

One hundred guitarists making lots of noise would not be something you'd want to listen to.

I'm constantly revising and updating a piece until it's finally recorded. Once it's recorded, then it's over.

It can and will be a more powerful sound but the orchestra has far more potential for expressive power. When I hear a great rock band it can make me feel alive, but when I hear a great orchestra it can make me feel human.

I like to read. I've become obsessed with fiction. And it's too bad: I'm a musician many people love and I myself am not part of the music scene.

I want the music to be ambiguous. Its tone gives you a context in which to start visualizing what you're feeling with the music.

I liked rock music going back to the '60s, but I never ever had any desire to be a rock musician and when I started doing a band it was experimental music.