In a nine-piece-band is one guy gonna call up eight guys and have a 45-minute discussion about every decision? No. So things are a lot more democratic in Stone Sour. Plus, we're closer and it's a lot easier to communicate. In Slipknot that's the big problem - communication.

It's hard to chase a vibe and catch a vibe.

I'm just a dumb guitar player, man.

I want to see the guitar in a non-linear sense that encompasses tones, arrangements, songwriting, audio production, and everything else - you have to do it all.

It's probably a lot cooler than wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Once I put on the mask, I don't even realize that it's there. They're molded off of our faces, so they fit really well.

I feel like I've paid a really heavy cost, a really heavy physical health cost, for the years of touring and how physical I've been onstage.

We don't have universal health care. Education is so expensive. We have these massive problems, you know? So it makes me really happy to think that somebody could have all the music in the world for free. But at the same time, if you have enough money to pay for it, you should pay for it.

For a lot of people, life's been pretty good. There hasn't been true terror right in your face.

The thing I take great comfort in and what I think is cool about the process is that I know in my heart that I gave it everything I had back then. That helps me sleep at night. I still feel proud and happy.

You spend all day getting the song goo,d and you're listening to it late at night, and you're happy with it. But you should sleep on it and come back in the morning and make sure.

One thing I've learned is that the best thing a producer can do is help you be you.

That's why you put out records: hoping that people will connect with them. I mean, I play music for myself, for sure, and I would still play music even if people didn't like it. But it means a lot when it connects to people and they enjoy it. But it's funny: you get criticism as much as you get praise. It kind of evens out after awhile.

I love the thrill of putting on a record and feeling like you got the wrong one from the factory.

I love hearing old Bob Marley recordings that he did before he made the versions everybody knows.

I'll only pick up my guitar if something is knocking on the door. Once the melodies have sort of been bothering me for a time, then I pick up my guitar and try to find them. But only if they want to be found.

For me, it's more powerful to hear people sing about God than love in most circumstances because I've been hearing people sing about love for most of my life.

I just think meditation is so important because it gives you a chance to see what's going on in your brain.

Our first two records are a lot quieter and more studio-based. We kind of had this feeling like we wanted to make a more quote-unquote 'rock' record. Then Patrick joined and really brought a new Herculean power to the band.

'It Still Moves' is really the only record in our catalog that I've always felt I wanted to remix. Part of the fun of that record was that we recorded it all to tape, and it was all super-duper organic.

When I make a record with My Morning Jacket, I love what those guys do, so I don't have a need to play bass or drums or anything, because we're doing that as a unit.

I guess people have a hard time dealing with humour in music. But sometimes life is depressing, and sometimes life is fun, is about just laughing with your friends, and I wanted to express that as well as the darker stuff.

It's hard to say what an album is about - because each one is usually about a lot of things to me, but then I hope it also can mean a lot of different things to someone else. That's the beautiful thing about music.

I like to be productive - it's very hard for me to go on vacation because I just feel like I'm losing time.

The first two My Morning Jacket records were basically demos.