M. Ward Quotes

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M. Ward

Profession : Musician

Birth : October 4, 1973

I don't like the way recording to digital sounds. Most of the time, when I'm recording to two-inch tape, I still have a romantic vision of how songs sounded coming out of the radio when I was younger, and how they sounded coming out of my little four-track cassette player.

M. Ward

I got this Christmas gift with the entire Beatles catalog. I had fun trying to duplicate what I was hearing on these records, only using the instruments I had at hand - an acoustic guitar, and that's all. It was endlessly amusing to me to try to imitate John Lennon and Paul McCartney's harmonies using the guitar.

M. Ward

I've worked with just as many talented women as I have talented men, and I feel fortunate enough to have that great balance.

M. Ward

One of the great things about music is that it has the capability of time travel - you smell a certain smell in the room and it takes you back to your childhood. I feel like music is able to do that, and it happens to me all the time.

M. Ward

I definitely don't see myself as much of a singer, because my upbringing is really based around the guitar, learning chord progressions and that sort of thing. So the singing aspect of what I do has been a secondary adventure.

M. Ward

When I first started making music, it was learning other people's songs and putting them onto four-track. Like Beatles songs and stuff. When I started writing, I used the singing side of the production as a vehicle for melody and lyrical ideas.

M. Ward

I always prefer other people's interpretations over my own, so I'm not very quick to make explicit what exactly a song or record is about.

M. Ward

Certain things you have to stumble on to. They can't be preprogrammed.

M. Ward

I learned a long time ago that fame and money is not a ticket to happiness.

M. Ward

It's a luxury to not have to just be performing with other people to have my music heard.

M. Ward

The South of France is one of my favorite places in the world.

M. Ward

My grandparents are from Mexico, so I grew up with great Mexican food.

M. Ward

I don't really watch TV series because I don't want to get hooked on them and have them suck up all my time.

M. Ward

I do watch 'American Idol' sometimes. It's not really that pleasurable... I take that back. It is the epitome of a guilty pleasure. Sometimes there's some good singers on that show.

M. Ward

I get most of my inspiration from older records and older production styles, and that ends up rearing its head in the records that I make.

M. Ward

I love the idea that I planned my career. I did not. It started out by getting invitations from artists that I really love and respect, to share a stage... I've been very lucky in that I haven't had to create a five-year plan. It's evolved.

M. Ward

I love the sound of Elmore James, the sound early guitarists like him got just by using minimal means.

M. Ward

There's a relationship between music and spirituality and inspiration and to a certain extent improvisation that draws me in, because I don't totally understand it. I know that those relationships have been telling me, since I started making records, where to go. What to write down.

M. Ward

I wouldn't want to cover a Hank Williams song in a country-western way. It doesn't occur to me instinctually to re-create productions. I'm interested in re-creating songs. Putting different clothes on them.

M. Ward

When you work on a record for three years, it's a great sense of relief when it is finally out in the world. It just feels good.

M. Ward