producer steve lillywhite

steve lillywhite was in town last friday evening, and along with several others, i got a chance to spend some quality time with him asking a ton of questions and learning from a master producer. for those of you who may not be familiar with steve, he is the producer of many of U2's albums, as well as three of Dave Matthew's Band blockbuster albums, and most recently he produced 30 Seconds to Mars' hit record. in short, he's a big deal, and a very funny person to boot.

here are some quotable highlights:

"for me the voice is everything."

"when i am true to myself in the recording process it gives me strength."

"there's no genres of music, just good and bad."

"a manager during the recording process is like a father whose wife is pregnant. he can't make anything happen but wants the baby now. a producer is like the doctor who says 'i'll deliver the baby (the mix) when it's ready."

"the great thing about bono is that he cares about every gig no matter how big. bono doesn't care about the person in the front row, but the person in the back row. he's a traveling salesman who kills himself in the studio because his vaccum cleaner has to be the best if he's going to travel the globe selling it for two years."

"bongolese is bono's introductory language as a songwriter. he sings phonetically then writes the words."

"bono believes that truly great art can only come from chaos. he plants seeds of chaos in every record so that each of the songs go through many stages."

"there is no rule book in making records...there is pre-sergeant pepper recording which is structured and logical and there is post-sergeant pepper recording which is experimental and chaotic, and both are good."

"'whose gonna ride your wild horses' is the only U2 song that makes me twitch when i hear it. it can only be described as 'brown.'"

"if there is ever a time in the recording studio that the band thinks i'm worried...then i'm not doing my job."

"i look for the weak person in the band and try to bolster them."

"the artist is always right. it's their record."

"90% of corporate america don't do anything but safeguard their job. record companies rape artist's. you don't need record labels because you can go out and play live."

"U2 would have been dropped after their first album if it had not been for Chris Blackwell."

"i'm a bit like a boxer now, i need longer breaks in between bouts (albums) to regain my enthusiasm."

"i'd like to be on america idol...i'd be perfect for the show because i know talent...let's face it, the show is going down hill without simon cowell...i believe we need to discover the next elvis presley...i would focus on picking a much stronger group of 24..."