"I don't really feel like that right now. I mean, if you put enough whiskey in anybody, they can make an alt-country record."
"Not to sound scary, but I think [Rock N Roll]'s a really fun record. There are some funny songs on there. There are really no instruments other than electric guitars and a few really cheesy synths, which are hilarious. There are some total Duran Duran moments. This record is made to be played really loud in the car and to not give a fuck when you're listening to it."
"I feel like an over-excited fan with a guitar. All my past records have been so narcissistic and self-involved, whereas [Rock N Roll] has a lot of humour...and some vindictiveness."
"[Rock N Roll]'s kind of an album about my record collection. It's not the next great statement, and it's so not a big deal. It has elements of the late Eighties in it - particularly Sonic Youth, which was very important for me, and a little bit of Gun Club. Terribly unprofound, I'd say. It has a lot of punchlines in it."
"Almost all of [creating Rock N Roll] was, 'What riff was the funnest to play on the bass? And how can I use my influences?' I've been accused of plagiarism in the past and wearing my influences too much on my sleeve. Well, that's the point. To be influenced is a creative thing to be. Look at people like the Stones. They were covering all those blues guys and really learning that repertoire before they made their own record. They got to where they really understood the music. And then look what happened."
"You get to the point where since what you do isn't working, you just charge out and try anything. I completely abandoned whatever routine I had before. Had no routine at all. I mainly write from sketches, and that's like writing down your dreams. You can write it down the best that you can, but you never get to the actual dream. Songs are that way - I don't aspire to be a completist or edit stuff too much. I like it in the raw, beautiful, messy state. My rule on all the stuff I wrote this year was 'No Laboring'. I wrote [Rock N Roll] in two weeks."
"If you're looking for the place where I'm all self-serious and thinking deeply, it's just not there [on Rock N Roll]. I felt that was something I'd done enough of already. And you can find some of that on Love Is Hell - which is pretty thick sometimes and not to be mixed with pharmaceuticals."
We don't know the tracklisting yet. We are hoping that Lost Highway will put the tracks in the order that Ryan intended for them to be.
Ryan has truly changed a facet of my life.
