Cliff Martinez Quotes

I know so few people who actually give music their undivided attention, so I've been trying to just park myself on the couch between the speakers and listen.

I was in the Chilli Peppers at the time and I asked myself, would I be able to wear a sock on my genitals at the age of forty and they proved me wrong because I guess they're still doing it.

Composing demands a degree of isolation.

I got fed up with being in bands. I spent a couple of years touring the country in a smoked filled band, doing lots of drugs and being really unhealthy.

It's very important that you never depend on money to fulfill your creative vision. If you do that, you're doomed to fail.

I like directors that give their composer a juicy role in their films. Some films have a small, minor role for music, some have a larger role.

I'm kind of an antisocial person. I realised when I was playing in bands that I wasn't that comfortable being on-stage, and I preferred to be behind-the-scenes. I like the seclusion of composing.

Composers are in some ways the last frontier of musician that gets a paycheck for their musical services.

I think there is quite a continuity over my 25 years of doing music, and I'm always trying to break away from it.

I like challenges and I definitely would like to be more of a chameleon.

I'm not in a position in my career where I turn things down. I'm very easy. So the projects often dictate the direction you will go in. I welcome things that challenge me.

There's nothing worse than a director that keeps changing their mind. Because, unlike the directors I work with, I'm not decisive at all.

When you've finished the film and everybody's already made back all their money, everybody just leaves you alone and I'm very happy. That's what it has to be like.

Censorship has kind of disappeared in a way because everything is accessible online.

I don't like to write any music to a script. Experience has taught me that's generally a waste of time.

I've never tried to work chronologically. I don't think I have the discipline to do that.

I've always been very left of center and the radio never had much diversity and film did.

If I had kids, I don't think I would recommend they pursue a career in music.

I don't want to be typecast as the 'ambient guy' or someone who only does electronic scores. I think most of the work that comes my way is because people feel they know me musically.

I'm kind of conservative. I like to build on what I've done in the past and try something new.

The more I come to understand music, the more I feel like a numbskull because there is always more to learn.

Pop music is a fashion, and fashions come and go. The public retires you as their tastes change.

I work at home but average 15,000 to 18,000 miles per year on my Honda.