Mark Blake > Quotes

“There’s a bit in “Echoes” we call “the wind section” where it all falls apart, and then comes back in,’ explains Guy Pratt. ‘Some of the younger players, mentioning no names, couldn’t get their heads around it not being a set number of bars. It was like, “You have to feel it and know instinctively when to come back in.” David’s great line about that was, “The trouble with modern musicians is that they don’t know how to disintegrate.”
― Mark Blake, Pigs Might Fly: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd

“There are people who say we should make room for younger bands. That’s not the way it works. They can make their own room.”
― Mark Blake, Pigs Might Fly: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd

“It was an early example of the power of persuasion and unstinting belief that Mercury would apply to himself and his band mates in Queen. Nothing was impossible, he maintained, if you put your mind to it.”
― Mark Blake, Freddie Mercury: A Kind of Magic

“The other members of Queen wrote songs – often great songs – but it was Freddie who sold them.”
― Mark Blake, Freddie Mercury: A Kind of Magic

“On the original tour, Pink Floyd had only 35mm cine-projectors with which to beam an image a maximum of 80ft wide in the middle of the wall. Waters now had twenty-three projectors beaming images across the full width of the 240ft wall, and on to a circular screen behind the stage. It was a visual feast, with Gerald Scarfe’s ghoulish animations now brought to life in eye-watering”
― Mark Blake, Pigs Might Fly: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd

“That tour was riven with tension. But I think it was all the better for it. Pink Floyd was borne out of tension for so many years that I think it still functioned at its best when it wasn’t just a band of happy misfits.”
― Mark Blake, Pigs Might Fly: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd

“Despite being the "Most Likely" on a list of "The Rock Stars Most Likely to Croak ...," Keith has outlasted ex-bandmates, ex-drug buddies and, so he claims, several of his own doctors. Yet as the man himself observes, "Every day of my life is show business." Start him up ...”
― Mark Blake, Stone Me: The Wit and Wisdom of Keith Richards

“In his own words, Richards embraces the notion of "life as a wild animal," and his legendary close shaves have left him with a unique take on existence. Yet somehow, Keith Richards's implacably rock 'n roll worldview has something to offer al of us ...”
― Mark Blake