Big Band Quotes

#1. The great thing about rock-n-roll is you realize the top of the mountain is big enough for more than one band.

Paul Stanley

#2. This guy kept telling us that rock was the big thing, everyone's talking about the big thing, our band was the big thing. So he made us change our name to The Big Thing. Can you believe that?!

Terry Kath

#3. What music I listen to day to day changes very, very much. I can go from bluegrass to heavy metal, to blues, to classical and big band and then go to pop and rap.

Casey James

#4. Any accolades that anybody puts toward this band really makes me feel good, because I have devoted such a big part of my life to this band, making it what I want it to be.

Charlie Daniels

#5. Of course, no lyrics are ever unintentional, but I think bands like Wolf Parade and the Arcade Fire have a tendency to touch on big themes without really following through on them or tying them in to a particular logic.

Dan Bejar

#6. If bullshit were music, you'd be a big brass band,

A Meredith Walters

#7. For two hours I'd felt myself stretching tighter and tighter, like a rubber band pulled to the point of snapping. And now, I could feel the smaller, weaker part of myself beginning to fray, tiny bits giving way before the big break.

Sarah Dessen

#8. I grew up in a school that had a big music program, and it was incredible. It's what I looked forward to during the day. I had chorus, strings, band.

Alison Krauss

#9. The stereotypical rock-star-trashing-a-hotel-room thing? Those days had passed by the time I was in a band big enough to do it.

Phil Collins

#10. For any band that ends up becoming really big, yeah, hard work has something to do with it, but a lot of it is just pure luck.

Kellin Quinn

#11. I don't think it's inherently wrong when bands do certain things - sometimes I'm really excited when I see a band has taken a big ad or sync.

Alex Scally

#12. Everyone's different, but it was fun for me to work with Garth Hudson. He's from 'The Band.' They are a massive influence, that was a big thrill. He's completely out of his mind.

Teddy Thompson

#13. I'm living the dream. I've got a big tour bus, an incredible band, a big house, and a family that are all taken care of through my music. I've got a beautiful wife and three beautiful kids.

Aaron Watson

#14. I never aspired to be in a band, but being onstage is a very cool feeling. It's like you're the lord of the room. It's hard to croon and run around doing big scissor kicks while also trying to play, though. I'm still mastering that.

Robert Sheehan

#15. Being on the road is like a campout. I'm the only girl. The guys in my band are like my big brothers. It's definitely an adventure, but it can be a nomadic lifestyle.

Kate Voegele

#16. I enjoy playing with a big band occasionally, but it's too restricting; you really don't have a chance to stretch out and do what you want to do. Getting that thing of relating to a large band is great experience; I relate much better, though, if it's a small band.

Art Pepper

#17. You always come back to Duke Ellington - he's kind of like the thread that holds everything together from the big band descending to lots of jazz, actually.

Herbert

#18. I grew up in a very musical family, my father was a musician and a big band leader and made records.

Billy Sherwood

#19. I used to do this big rant at the end of some gigs with Ben Folds Five. The band broke into this big heavy metal thing and I started as a joke to scream in a heavy metal falsetto. I found myself saying things like: Feel my pain, I am white, feel my pain.

Ben Folds

#20. I wasn't really terribly familiar with the Beatles when I met George. They were just emerging. They certainly weren't as big as they became later on. I just knew them as a pop group, and that's all. I was keener on George as a man and a person, as opposed to someone in a band.

Pattie Boyd

#21. The Republican Party had a big day in yesterday's midterm elections and now controls the House and Senate. And don't ask me how this happened, but the Republican Party also gained control of three seats in our show's band.

Conan O'Brien

#22. The music, as predicted, blew big time. A live band was going to town up on stage, but really, how many times could they sing about could'a, should'a, would'a, and a dog before people's brains started to liquefy?

Nicole Williams

#23. I still love recording and still love the stage, but like my dad, I have the most fun when I am in front of that glorious orchestra or that kick-butt big band.

Natalie Cole

#24. The Animals were their own worst enemy. The Animals were a band that couldn't live up to their name. I was the singer in the band and as long as I was enjoying myself I would keep on working with the band. But it got to be rather nasty once the big money showed up - things started to turn toxic.

Eric Burdon

#25. Their eagerness for the big-band music and their ability to grasp the essence of it made me realize that today's generation has not been properly exposed to the big-band sound.

Illinois Jacquet

#26. We became a band that was kind of a big band, kind of a band that quite uncool people listen to, people a lot like me. I've realized that's a much more beautiful fate than the plan I had.

Torquil Campbell

#27. We are diverse, big time. Sully is the main man, which makes sense as the lead man of the band. Tony and myself are quiet; I need to be begged to do these interviews (laughs). But it comes down to being a team, that is the main thing. Knowing, understanding and accepting our roles.

Robbie Merrill

#28. I've got quite a big gay following. I played a lesbian prostitute in the TV series 'Band Of Gold' but I think my following really grew when I played one in the film 'Imagine Me & You,' with Piper Perabo.

Lena Headey

#29. Bands are more willing to take risks and we don't need this big label over us anymore telling us what it means to sell records and get into magazines.

Mat McNerney

#30. It's a big shame, because 'Trixter' in my mind were what a real rock n' roll band is all about.

Steve Brown

#31. It is very important to me that my songs can sound amazing with a big band or orchestra, but just as powerful and touching with just me and my guitar.

Tessanne Chin

#32. There's sort of an open offer to work with a guy in Los Angeles who does big band and orchestra arrangements who was at least an acquaintance to Les Baxter before he passed away.

Jello Biafra

#33. I still miss music and singing. One day, I'm going to sing with a big band.

Paul Eenhoorn

#34. The Band never really played big concert tours. We never sold millions and millions of albums.

Levon Helm

#35. You know, with bands like Kiss back out on the road and Aerosmith coming out, we are going to be a band like that, in the sense that it's a big rock band.

Steve Brown

#36. When I'd hear something that sounded like I could follow it - most of those big band jazz tunes are blues anyway - I would hum it and play with the fiddle while I was humming.

Johnny Gimble

#37. It is not very practical in today's world when you tour all over the place having a big band.

Andy Summers

#38. Yeah, sci-fi is definitely a big influence on Fear Factory. I've had people tell me we always sing about the same thing but it's like well, if we were a black metal band we'd sing about Satan, you know? What if we were a Christian metal band? All the songs would be about how much we loved Jesus.

Dino Cazares

#39. When I write a tune - and it's been like this for many years - I always hear in the back of my head some sort of vague, orchestrated, fully fleshed-out big-band version of the song with other parts going on.

John Scofield

#40. Big companies are like marching bands. Even if half the band is playing random notes, it still sounds kind of like music. The concealment of failure is built into them.

Douglas Coupland

#41. The Beatles were just a band that made it very, very big, that's all.

John Lennon

#42. My brother was always in bands and on the road when I was a kid and he was my inspiration. He never made it with a big band, in fact he never made a record. Here he is fifty-something years old.

Jimmy Chamberlin

#43. Then I left that school and I went to Cerritos College, which was in southern California; they had one of the best big band programs in the country at the time.

Bobby McFerrin

#44. To go see a band in a big venue is a difficult experience. I don't really like that too much. I'm not a guy who puts on iTunes and goes, "Oh, what's hot!" I don't need to.

Andy Summers

#45. I grew up in Detroit. So my mother always loved big band music.

Glenn Frey

#46. There's a band in the U.K. called Elbow. They're not that big in the U.S., but I think they're genius.

Jamie Lawson

#47. I actually don't care about his movies that much. I just want to twang that thong like a big elastic band.

Valerie Bertinelli

#48. With my little band, I did everything they did with a big band. I made the blues jump.

Louis Jordan

#49. Forgiveness is a big deal to Jesus, and like that guy in high school with a garage band, he talks about it, like, all the time.

Nadia Bolz-Weber

#50. So I was always around music and my dad was in his own way a progressive jazzer, a big band jazzer guy.

Billy Sherwood

#51. We Irish don't really need thousands of people surging behind a big brass band to have a parade. One guitar player and a few people whistling will do the job.

Gene Tierney

#52. Why don't you steal the pattern out of Kenton's '23 Degrees North, 82 Degrees West'?" the trombonist, an alumnus of Stan Kenton's big band, said.

James Kaplan

#53. Because usually in the past when I was in a big band, that was all I did.

Kathy Valentine

#54. I like a little bit of everything. I think I'll put on Guns 'N' Roses or Rolling Stones any day. But recently I like a band called Bastille, or The Weeknd I'm a big fan of as well.

Steven R. McQueen

#55. In 2007, I studied with Peter Erskine because I was doing a Buddy Rich tribute concert, and I wanted to take my big-band drumming up a level. I went over to Peter's house with my sticks, feeling like a 13-year-old again.

Neil Peart

#56. I understand why there's a natural suspicion of the "Next Big British Band."

Gary Jarman

#57. I have to say that Dave's Grohl amazing too. You see all these interviews with him and he seems like the coolest and nicest guy on camera, but he really is when he's off too! I was fortunate enough to know him before he was a big rock star when I put out his very first band's album.

Reed Mullin

#58. We use a neck training machine where you can strengthen the muscles, going front to back, side to side. You can also connect a big resistance band to a wall or something and do the exercise like that.

Valtteri Bottas

#59. People don't seem to care about convictions any more. When I was a teenager, the deal was that, y'know, you had a band that you were really loyal towards, almost to a fault, and you stayed really loyal to that band. That was the whole thing, that was such a big deal.

Marnie Stern

#60. To me, Modest Mouse is one of the best bands ever. I actually wasn't surprised that they made it big. It's always weird to see it happen, and it happens so fast, all of a sudden songs are in the background on TV.

Doug Martsch

#61. When I first set up my big band, I only had Gilson Lavis, the drummer from Squeeze, with me. He was the core element. Whenever a group hits the big time, they always get a new drummer because they really need that. You can make do with rubbish elsewhere.

Jools Holland

#62. Everyone in a band has a big ego - they love having pictures taken.

Giles Duley

#63. Being such a big band is never a problem but it can be distracting.

Chris Martin

#64. I had a kind of artrock band called Peanut for a while, which eventually helped me over my fear of singing. That was a big step for me. I never dreamed I could sing songs in front of people.

Withered Hand

#65. The Smashing Pumpkins was never meant to be a small band. It was going to either be a big band, or a no band.

Billy Corgan

#66. Living composers writing for big band are very few and far between. There are not a lot of them, and I have a talent for doing it. I am zeroing in on what I do best.

Carla Bley

#67. Josh is the guy in the band who's just so friendly and super, wanting to walk up to you and say, 'Hey, I'm Josh. I drum in this band, and I'm a big fan of you, and I really appreciate what you do.' Josh has all these great friends in the industry now.

Tyler Joseph

#68. I've had my successes and failures. I know many academics in my field loathe me. I've come to loathe them back, as it seems only polite to do so. But at heart it's absurd; we should band together against the big common enemies.

Alain De Botton

#69. I was in a band in Auckland, and I remember they all hated me. They had a big intervention. They said, basically, 'Gin, we think you suck.' I was miserable. I cried and cried. But looking back, that taught me about social skills and how to communicate with musicians.

Gin Wigmore

#70. I was very shy when I was younger. But I did have a terrible temperament. I would get angry very quickly, but the rest of the time I was this big goofball, playing the drums in a band and making out with girls.

Jeremy Renner

#71. When you're in a band that's so big when you're young, you kind of lose your identity a little bit. You just become part of the band. I just needed to get away from it.

Roger Andrew Taylor

#72. I've been saying for almost 20 years that I need to do a jazz project and it ought to be either big band or I should do some jazz songs with a trio or quartet.

Al Jarreau

#73. I stick to playing Brahms, but I love listening to Led Zeppelin, and I've also been a big fan of Earth Wind and Fire since the Seventies and of The Gap Band since the Eighties.

Condoleezza Rice

#74. Since the big band started I'm just always swamped with movies and things. It certainly pays the bills and it's very satisfying, because I get to write all these big charts and all this crazy music.

Brian Setzer

#75. The patterns of big-band music are smooth and classical. It's got to be fresh. The brass section should crackle, like the sound of eggs being dropped into hot grease.

Illinois Jacquet

#76. I played Big Band jazz music. I wasn't into rock and roll. I was just there because it was a living. I surprised everyone. I'm still surprising people.

Bobby Vinton

#77. It's nice to have a band that can adapt to whatever show we're in, so we can play on a big stage or a house show.

Phil Elvrum

#78. I love most melodic music - classical, reggae, big band, jazz, blues, country, pop, swing, folk.

John Lescroart

#79. The music I wanted to get into when I went to California, was to, uh, get into, uh, pop, mostly. And the big band era was on at that time. I was doing the "Mona Lisa"s, the "Stardust"s, "Stars Fell On Alabama," all this kind of stuff. And that was my thing that I wanted.

Carl Gardner

#80. When I got my band in 1983, I knew what I had to do. If I'm going to have a big band, they're going to have to sound equally as good as what I'm used to hearing.

Illinois Jacquet

#81. I mean, I don't think I would call Claus to do an album of big band tunes. You know, just like arrangers write for the artist they have in mind; you have to keep in mind if you're going to work with Claus Ogerman. You invite him to do what he does.

Diana Krall

#82. The Band is probably the ultimate example of people taking all kinds of music, from gospel to blues to mountain music to folk music to on and on and on and on and putting them all in this big pot and mixing up a new gumbo.

Robbie Robertson

#83. I named it that because more or less each person from the band used to play in other bands and when we left respective bands other members from those bands all sort of changed round. It was a big sort of move thing. I got it from that, I suppose.

Roy Wood

#84. Nirvana was like that- Nirvana was like the only band to come out of that- it was like the same thing, Seattle was like this whole scene and it was like this big scene that was thrust upon America.

Jon Fishman

#85. However, the radio and national media depend much more on the hype from a good record label, and from a ' buzz ' about a band, then from just one or two good shows. There are a lot of artists that have a ton of good press going for them, and still do not make it big in the US.

Pat Garrett

#86. BIGBANG is the band that i myself am a big fan of

G-Dragon

#87. I had a blast on tour with Little Big Town. We got to play some beautiful rooms around the country - some really amazing old theaters. And it was just cool to see a band that's been together for so long.

Kacey Musgraves

#88. My mother did play classical piano, not that well. And actually, my father sang with the big bands - he sang with Bob Crosby's band - but he had to give up show business when his father died. He had to come back to Montgomery and take over the furniture store.

Toni Tennille

#89. For me personally, Blink-182 has been a big influence. Just seeing them way back in the day play little shows and start from a garage band to where they are now, makes me believe anything is possible if you truly want it and commit your life to it.

Beau Bokan

#90. It takes no genius to observe that a one-man band never gets very big

Charles Garfield

#91. The Big Band Era is my era. People say, 'Where did you get your style from?' I did the Big Band Era on guitar. That's the best way I could explain it.

Chuck Berry

#92. I played in a band and attended Grambling University. I think the Mob style funk music I do was patterned after the big college bands. I was also influenced by groundbreaking efforts of Too Short.

E-40

#93. I didn't realize Metallica was as big as they were. I just thought it was my buddy Kirk's band - we went to high school together. I wasn't really following metal.

Les Claypool

#94. Traveling with a big band is like being an inmate in a traveling zoo.

Hoagy Carmichael

#95. I played a lot of music all throughout my life, actually, but in high school I was in marching band and all the bands. So, I was big into music, I was big into drawing and sculpture, and all these different things.

Kirsten Lepore

#96. I started a band [Big Japan] for fun. These sticks break easily, but they feel good.

Adam Brody

#97. I think what's cool about about going on a co-headline tour is everyone's bringing a huge show, so it's not like opening band, opening band, then here's the big show. It's like two big shows.

Jack Antonoff

#98. I know a lot of people who wouldn't be comfortable with everything that comes with being in a band as big as Nirvana. The thing that I don't understand is not appreciating that simple gift of being able to play music.

Dave Grohl

#99. There are a few artists that I'm really into. I mean, I'm a big Nick Cave fan. And there's a band from Australia called Big Heavy Stuff that's one of my favorite bands ever.

J. Robbins

#100. A lot of the music is the kind of thing I grew up with, listening to it with my parents. So there was a band in London called the BBC Big Band, and I sang with them. And I had never done a big band before, and it was just so fantastic and I had such a good time ... so that's how it all came about

Frances Ruffelle