Glenn Branca Quotes

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.

Occasionally I hear a band that blows me away. For instance, there's a musician in Oakland named Weasel Walter who has a band called the Flying Luttenbachers. Go see the Flying Luttenbachers when they're in your town. He's one of the greatest rock composers who ever lived, and he's struggling and living like a poverty-stricken hermit.

I could create music that sounded as strange as any electronic music, because you see, my opinion about electronic music is that the real composer is the guy who invented the instrument. Pressing buttons is not composing. Composing is about creating something.

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.

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 started out in theatre and I definitely have wanted to add extra musical elements to my music with both imagery and text.

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

Music is about imagination. It's about thought. It's about creating something from nothing.

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

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

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'm never happy with anything.

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.

There were a lot of people doing new and interesting things with rock. But I wanted to take it farther than that. My real influence was punk. I must have listened to the first Patti Smith album 300 times.

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