Quotes by Brian Setzer

About Brian Setzer:

Brian Robert Setzer is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He first found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly revival group Stray Cats, and revitalized his career in the late 1990s with his Swing revival band, The Brian Setzer Orchestra.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Just because you put super great musicians together, it doesn't mean you're going to have that chemistry as a band.

Brian Setzer

I like a good pompadour.

Brian Setzer

I'm not God's gift to rockabilly. There's great players out there, and some of them deserve a lot more than they've gotten.

Brian Setzer

I love Glen Campbell. He never gets a mention.

Brian Setzer

A lot of people put all that stuff on a pedestal, and they won't touch it. But I don't think that's the reason they did that. I think they played that stuff out of pure joy.

Brian Setzer

Elvis is not so difficult as Johnny Cash because his voice is so distinctive. If you try to copy Johnny Cash, it's just going to sound dumb.

Brian Setzer

For every rockabilly festival staged here, there are 10 held overseas.

Brian Setzer

I can't tell you how many people have asked me to show them Stray Cat Strut and that little diminished run on the C. I guess my brain is wired backwards. I don't know what possessed me to do that, but I did.

Brian Setzer

I put a metronome up to all the songs, and I tried to really keep it true to the original tempos.

Brian Setzer

I wanted to go back to Sun. Unfortunately, most of the gear is gone from Sun. The way I take it now, it's almost like a tourist destination. So, it would have been pretty difficult to have brought all the gear into Sun to make it like it was in the '...

Brian Setzer

It is hard to play Blue Suede Shoes. I know everyone has heard it 10 million times, and that makes it even harder to play it, but there's a very laid back tempo on that. I was surprised at how slow it really was.

Brian Setzer

Normally, you go into the recording studio, make a record and then take it on the road and you think... wow... I could have done THIS to it, or something.

Brian Setzer

People out there maybe know who Junior Parker is and some of those Sun Records blues guys.

Brian Setzer

I basically sat down for a month, with all the Sun stuff I could find and just picked out my favorites. I didn't think that they were indicative of '54 to '57, although I tried to stay within that period.

Brian Setzer

I didn't want to take the guitar solos down note-for-note, but more or less use them as a map, and keep all the hooks from the guitar playing, and let myself come through.

Brian Setzer

It's not about how loud you turn the amp up. That's not what makes it sound big. What makes it sound big is fooling around with different delays and reverb settings.

Brian Setzer

Mark Winchester has left the band. He's decided that he's tired of the road and just wants to concentrate on his career in Nashville. I don't blame him at all. He'll certainly be missed.

Brian Setzer

The biggest challenge for me was Get Rhythm. I don't know why.

Brian Setzer

The jazz chord substitutions in a country song... that was another thing that bent people's ears. I guess that my favorites are the unique ones. It's not how fast you play. It's that unique blending of different stuff I'm most proud of.

Brian Setzer

The songwriting has never really stepped forward from the '50's.

Brian Setzer

Author Bio

  • NameBrian Setzer
  • DescriptionAmerican singer
  • BornApril 10, 1959
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionGuitarist; Bandleader; Conductor; Singer; Jazz Musician