I don't make grandiose, prophetic statements in my songs.

Even in 1971, J. Geils was into the Stones. When I heard Geils, I realized that a lot of other people hearing them had never heard the Stones.

We don't want to categorize our music. Some people say you need a definite musical direction to give a group visibility.

I think if you're going to a concert and spending $15 for a ticket for you and your girlfriend, then you're going to buy a T-shirt, and you end up spending close to $100 a night, what with gas in the car and anything else to get you in the spirit of things, I just think that people deserve their money's worth.

I just started exploring the guitar and seeing where it would take me.

So everybody is trying to play like Eddie Van Halen. I think it's rubbish. I think Eddie's great, but everyone's trying to do what he does and it doesn't make for a lot of interesting music.

Certainly, I don't believe in rebellion for its own sake. But I think if you strive to do something in an individualistic way, you just become a rebel by definition.

When I grew up, I had influences as diverse as Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix.

I do keep my eyes and ears open but I don't spend a lot of time looking at what other people are doing to see how I can fit in.

I'm the only person I know who's never had a regular job.

Following the example of Bruce Springsteen or Bob Seger, I wanted to have a band, a sound and a personality, yet maintain a singular position of being able to control and motivate the flow of things.

I always wanted to merge heavy metal with pop music, but I think that because I grew up more with pop, the Beatles and the Stones, I tended to affiliate myself with those projects.

Becoming a Top Ten artist has surprised me.

I have a lot of gay friends.

I was a good-looking, sexy guy. That certainly didn't hurt in promoting my music.

There's a time that you realize that you're not gonna get out of a room without playing certain songs.

Take 'The Stroke,' for instance. Plenty of people saw sexual connotations in that song but to me it was about what goes on in the business world.

I guess I could sit around and say, 'Gee, I wish I were playing at the Capital Centre tonight instead of Hammerjacks,' but it doesn't happen.

I mean, I would always like to play bigger places and play for more people.

I take songwriting very seriously and I wouldn't want anything I do to be construed as frivolous or mundane.

I don't try to be difficult. I just care so much about these albums that I get crazed sometimes when I'm making them.

I'm basically a nice guy.

I don't really like fighting.

There's this raw, basic quality people expect in my music.