“Any band on their first couple records is just trying to keep up with their inspiration.”

“By the time you get to your sixth record, some of the benefits of being in a band are grander than ever, but some of the obstacles are just massive. You deal with these lateral subjects, and all that is left is the elephant in the room.”

“Guitar solos, to me, should be a really articulate way to make fun of guitar solos.”

“I asked my friend Greg Andersson to introduce me to people that can distribute my album.”

“I don't mind saying what's on my mind.”

“I don't think it's good to run on anger, but it's really great when that's the first couple of gallons in your tank - when you've had enough, and you're just pissed off enough to go for it. In a lot of ways, that sort of environment can be a catapult for a great situation.”

“I felt really free, like I could do anything, because no one would know what to expect.”

“I have this coat that I got in a nefarious deal years ago. It's a Johnny Carson coat, and I've had it remade three times. It's mine all the time. Carson was a real man, and I thought, 'Coats for real men by real men? I'm in.'”

“I know there are some labels that put out music for art's sake, but I don't know which ones.”

“I like to keep my feet on the sidewalk.”

“I like to move forward and notice things along the roadside that indicate where I should go.”

“I like when people take chances.”

“I look at my career as a body of work, not just Queens of the Stone Age records. I'm in Eagles of Death Metal, I'm in Them Crooked Vultures; I make records with other people.”

“I think everyone is trying to figure out who they are and their own thing.”

“I think I learned years ago when I went to Hawaii that you don't bring puka shells back. You've got to be careful of your vacation purchases.”

“I think if you play music and you join a scene you're already too late.”

“I think more people need to make out.”

“I think one of the coolest things you can do is disappear for a while, because it gives you the chance to re-emerge. To sort of pounce out of the jungle.”

“I think part of what happens is that small labels want to get bigger. And bigger is not better.”

“I think people believe I'm some kind of evil dictator sometimes. But I don't much care about that.”

“I think people get fixated on the example of an idea.”

“I think the best thing I could ever teach my daughter is that she's not an object or a trophy, and that she can trust in herself and believe in herself and that you are not your things, and you are not your job.”

“I think you can separate yourself from your fears. You know what you should do, and it's just scary to do it. But I'd hate to let the fact that I'm scared to do it make me not do it. It ends up defining you. Because the moves you make are then based on what you don't want to do.”

“If you wanna be famous, then it's okay if the music is fake, because fame isn't real.”

“If you're trying to do something different, you can't ask someone to help, because they'll want to make it not different.”

“I'm a fairly upbeat and happy guy, you know? I don't like people that feel sorry for themselves, and I traditionally stay away from people like that.”

“I'm always looking for cool stuff to do because that's what we're supposed to do, ya know?”

“I'm in three bands, and I love to produce records of other bands, and I have a family that I love. I wanted to be everything for everybody and do all of that... I think I just really beat myself up until I got really sick and needed surgery, because it was physically manifesting itself.”

“I'm just going to put out three or four releases a year and make it so that if you like the Desert Sessions, then you'll definitely like everything else.”

“I've always considered myself a workaholic... The way I work, I have to turn myself upside down and hang myself by my ankles and wring myself out like a wet sweater, and I have to do that with other people, too, because I think that's where something good comes out.”

“I've always heard music in my head since I was a little kid, so I've always played towards that. If I felt bad, that's what I did.”

“Looking for equality everywhere is a huge mistake because equals are terrible and boring. But a sense of fairness and justice is a totally different thing and a much more complex thing.”

“Making people uncomfortable is one of my hobbies.”

“Making people uncomfortable is one of my hobbies. I'm always hoping that half the people get the joke and the other half are the joke.”

“Music is the only thing I've ever known that doesn't have any rules at all.”

“Not everyone deserves to be a musician, you get lucky enough to be one.”

“Really the topic of breakfast cereal is generally a very boring one.”

“Records don't have to be perfect. Everyone doesn't have to move left when everyone else moves left. I love hearing the mistakes.”

“So the thing is to put out music for music's sake.”

“Sometimes hard decisions have to be made, and sometimes wonderful decisions have to be made. You've got to be willing to make them all.”

“Sometimes Queens' music is dark, but somehow it's ok to deliver it with a smile on your face because thing's are still going to kick in.”

“Sometimes you actually get caught in the web of things where people are talking about... what kind of breakfast cereal you like.”

“The first record I bought was a Carl Perkins record, because I saw him at The Festival at Sandpoint, Idaho. I loved Elvis and I found out that he wrote 'Blue Suede Shoes'... so connecting that experience of going to see him play was pretty awesome. That's when I realised I wanted to play guitar.”

“The language that we use now impacts on the ability to vote, it impacts on the marketplace; instead of making things clear, it makes it more confusing. I think we need to stop using neutral language and speak in straighter terms. So when you agree to something, you actually get what you agreed to in the first place.”

“The problem is that music is selfish in that you need to make it for yourself, so that you can give it away, and those two things don't jive. I needed to find the right reason to play that had the magic and mystery and excitement that made me want to play in the first place.”

“Ultimately, words are only words, and its only the music that stands by itself.”

“Well, I think what's most important is the idea of something.”

“When it's time to make music, that's about getting lost for me. To be a control freak is not half as good as being a freak who's casually in control. You're feeling around in the dark for something that feels good.”

“When you get sick and it's extended, you go through all these mental phases, and everyone handles them differently.”

“Why would you choose being bitter over choosing to make music? Being bitter is gross. It doesn't amount to anything.”

“You got to risk something to be able to give something, you know?”

“You wanna be there for everybody, but it's just not possible.”