I recognize that as a musician there is a certain chauvinism attached to it, which is the thing of, "I spent my time learning how to play. You didn't spend time learning how to play, therefore, you are not a musician."
Every time you go in, it's like starting over.
You don't know how you did the other records.
You're learning all over.
It's some weird musician amnesia, or maybe the road wipes it out.
Every time you go in, it's like starting over. You don't know how you did the other records. You're learning all over. It's some weird musician amnesia, or maybe the road wipes it out.
College is such a unique time because you're learning a little bit how to be an adult. You're learning how to take care of yourself without parental influence, and you're exposed to so many great minds. I feel like I didn't even know how to think until I got to college.
I think the biggest sacrifice I had to make was giving up time and missing out on things. Not going to college and getting the college experience. Or missing important holidays. All my time was spent in the studio.
I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out.
Especially girls, but any kids exposed to music programs and arts programs do much better on their tests. They have a better chance of going to college. They can focus better. You know, we're not just automatons learning how to work machines and do engineering and math and science. All of that's great, but you've got to build a whole person.
I'm going to be a better actor, or I'm going to try to be a better actor. I'm going to try to be a better musician. I'm going to be an artist instead of just this one thing.
I think... girls have a hard time being interesting. It’s actually easier to be famous, or notorious, than it is to be interesting. In our world, girls climb very well until they hit puberty-sexual maturity-and then they begin to fall out of the tree. They start role-playing instead of thinking, flirting instead of learning. They start admiring how smart the boys are-or how athletic or how handsome-instead of concentrating on their own intelligence.
I was 16 when we made the first song. We've been touring for half a decade together and we've had quite a bit of time spent learning our craft. You improve as a song writer and as a musician over time.
And like, I think when I was 14, I was like, OK, I'm going to go to college. I'm going to get out of college when I'm, like, 21, 22, then I'm going to get married. Then, I'm going to, like, be, like, rock star-musician-scientist.
I'm not going to go out there and set the world on fire and win my first race. People have to understand that. It's going to take time. It's going to take a lot of learning. I think eventually we'll obviously get better with time.
My English, I'm still learning. I'm still learning how to use my words. People want to hear what I have to say in the correct way, so I think every time it's going to be a little bit better.
How much courage does it take to fire up your tractor and plow under a crop you spent six or seven years growing? How much courage to go on and do that after you've spent all that time finding out how to prepare the soil and when to plant and how much to water and when to reap? How much to just say, "I have to quit these peas. Peas are no good for me, I better try corn or beans.
I grew up in a time when being a musician and learning to be a musician was actually very wonderful.
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