I tend to name albums after one of the songs.

I’m not too picky about guitars. I love to collect them, mostly oddballs, but I’m not married to any brand or model. Whatever guitar has the best character for the song is the one I...

The modern video games kind of – they’re too three dimensional.

My mum’s family would all get together, with guitars, harmonica, mandolins and upright bass and play old blues and folk songs. That was normal to me.

Some people love being onstage and really open up, and I’m sort of the opposite of that. I don’t crave the spotlight. I’m still not comfortable even talking onstage.

Being 16 years old and getting an electric guitar is never going to get old. There’s always going to be kids making music. There’s always going to be kids in bands.

The Black Keys is just a band that wants to get on stage and rock it.

Well, when The Black Keys make a record, I never really feel limited. To me, it seems the possibilities are always endless. The big difference has been playing live and being able to recreate every...

Bombino’s a super modest guy, very nice. His whole crew is a bunch of characters and he’s definitely the Grand Poobah. I don’t think the other guys are that much younger than him, but he...

You know who we hear about all the rappers from? The bus drivers.

I am nice to everybody. But people really take advantage of it.

When I learned to play music, I was listening to blues music. And all the blues music I liked was super simple and stripped down. And then all the hip hop I liked was super...

Devo and The Cramps didn’t get big until they went to New York City. Chrissie Hynde didn’t get big until she moved to London. When I was growing up, there wasn’t even a place to...

A Grammy is really nice, but having lots of fans is really nice, too. I think just getting a record out is a success on its own.

I never listen to Led Zeppelin. But, I mean, I don’t think Robert Plant or Jimmy Page listen to Led Zeppelin, either. We all probably obsessed over the same old blues records growing up.

It’s not about success. Whatever happens, it doesn’t matter. I would like to not go bankrupt or get some incurable disease, but other than that, I’m just happy to keep going.

Bands from Akron have a sense of humor and don’t tend to take themselves too seriously.

Dude, everybody wants to be Andre 3000. He’s got abs for days. How does that guy get so ripped?

Hip hop is the new rock n’ roll, you know what I mean? And anybody who doesn’t think that is just sort of living in the past. It’s all just American music, really, when you...

Coming from a smaller place always made things feel more personal, which is really what it’s all about.

Everybody always wants to rebel against their parents’ music, but nobody listened to music louder than my dad.

I’m certainly not your typical front-man material. Some people love being on stage and really open up, and I’m sort of the opposite of that. I don’t crave the spotlight. I’m still not comfortable even...

I’m really not worried about what fans think.

You know, there’s always someone in mind when I’m writing. You know, it’s all comes from somewhere inside.

My mom bought me a white Strat, but that wasn’t what I wanted, so I went to a guitar store in Cleveland and – the guy told me it was a really good deal –...

People will say, ‘Just one picture please.’ That is how it starts. There is just one picture and then somebody else wants another. And when I say ‘No’ I feel guilty.

Guitar solos bore the hell out of me. Only a few guitarists interest me, and it’s not about the solos they play, it’s about the grooves they create.

When I recorded my solo album, ‘Keep It Hid,’ in 2008, I’d gotten more interested in songwriting, inspired by reading Charles Bukowski and connecting with unfancy, interesting language.

I started playing bluegrass with my family, so there were the G, C and D chords. I was playing a Martin acoustic because that’s what Carter Stanley of the Stanley Brothers played. Then I got...

I’m definitely a guitar player, but it’s the last thing I listen to in a song, after the singer and the drums.

You get to bring your own sound system when you play an arena, all the lights and visual stuff, which I think is really cool. There’s something about those old arenas, where it feels larger...

I used to be really nervous when I sang. Like, when I was a kid starting young, 18 and 19, and my dad really had to sort of push me to start singing in front...

I’m not afraid of the Canadian tuxedo.