Bill Bruford Quotations

We used to drink an awful lot of alcohol.

I seldom play in a trio, but acoustic music is likely to be lighter, quicker, and quieter.

My harmony is passable but is usually made more eloquent at the hands of Steve Hamilton.

And I like messing around in the engine room of music. Seeing what happens in the rhythm section area.

So I have the classic amateur's technique; I know some very tricky bits and I have large gaping holes.

I listen to Bill Stewart play the drums and when I have finished doing that, I listen to Bill Stewart.

I don't really remember a whole lot of sex, drugs and rock n' roll, really.

I practice at home, in between phone calls, and have much to do.

If I was hearing something I couldn't do, I would figure out how to do it.

Plus I am being hounded by all the fabulous new drummers, Bill Stewart at the head of the pack.

Sometimes I had to room with Tony Kaye and that was awful.

Whatever I have come to offer, I have come to offer and it may or may not be connected to anything that has happened in the past.

I saw it as a challenge to play with Pat and we put hours and hours into it, usually on the bus. The trick was to find something that we both wanted to play within our different styles which would add up to being greater than the sum of its parts.

And we'd drink huge amounts of scotch and coke, which is a ghastly sweet drink... And now people don't drink nearly as much, for good reason. We're all a little wiser.

I didn't write any music at all, and then, I remember Jon Anderson being very insistent saying that there were two kinds of musicians: the ones who wrote music and the ones who didn't. And clearly the ones who wrote music were more superior human beings in his mind. So he kind of nudged me and sort of prodded me into it. I picked it up slowly. Then I learned more about chords and harmony and I just kept adding to that. One of the great things about having good players in your band is that you just ask them questions. You can pick up some good information that way.

I mean, Chris is, I'm sure, a wonderful guy. But in those days he also very, very late. For all appointments and departures and arrivals and sound checks and anything.

We were from totally different social backgrounds. This is what is very hard for an American to understand, but we could have been five guys from Mars.

Close to the Edge, Red, One of a kind, Discipline, Earthworks, The Sound of Surprise, all seem to me to be albums that captured the essence of the intention.

At the end of the whole day of working with people you want some privacy.

The best practice you can get is on the bandstand, but in between gigs I feel I have to stay in shape.

I do remember the whole thing as being very argumentative, hot blooded... a permanent state of friction between Jon and Chris, Chris and me, me and Jon.

But what I think my emphasis is, is on the fact that I like music a lot.

The piano is kind of my second instrument.

This amateurism however, can sometimes be helpful in forging a style; you have to work around your weaknesses.

I have been steadily exchanging a rock audience who were nervous about what they had just bought for a jazz audience who not only were happy with their purchase, but are increasingly coming again.

If it's fast, no I don't have enough piano technique. In that case, it's probably been done on some kind of synthesizer or sequencer. Then the score can then be printed out and so forth.

We all lived in the same house, or most of us did. And as far as I can make out we were confined to the property, because at twenty-four hours' notice we'd have to do a gig somewhere. So you couldn't leave the building for more than twelve hours in case a gig came through.

I warm naturally to the drummer whose ideas and approach are strong, even if he doesn't quite have the ability to carry them out.

You learn so much about music from all the people you surround yourself with - good, bad and indifferent. It's extremely hard to be specific.

A rock band used to be four guys and a drummer. Now it's five guys sitting around reading manuals!

Second edition of Earthworks I have the more traditional compositional approach, namely I write a piece from the piano.

People come with expectations and as a bandleader I constantly try to remind the audience to leave its expectations in the lobby.

One of the great things about having good players in your band is that you just ask them questions. You can pick up some good information that way.

Holding on to some of your uniqueness is the trick instead of surrendering it at the Academy of Contemporary We're Gonna Make You a Star.

Entertainment is about telling everybody that everything is alright but music is on the side of the upsetters and that's where I'm at.

Drummers haven't managed to develop their individuality quite as well as guitarists have. We can be so focused on the nuts and bolts that we overlook the importance of individuality - the broader picture, if you will.