I loved TV, and I watched anything with music - 'Hee Haw,' 'Happy Days,' anything like that. So I loved the Monkees.

When I saw Kiss, and it was monsters with guitars, I thought this was the greatest thing that ever happened.

I find the macabre fascinating; it's all over history.

Whenever you listen to a CD or an album, it gets tiresome hearing the same thing over and over and over again.

I remember this vividly: It was 1977, and I was in Sears with my mom. And I saw this display, and it was for 'Love Gun.' I bought the record just because of the look of that display. Because I really loved monsters.

I remember where I was when I heard Yngwie Malmsteen for the first time. It was such an epiphany for me, and it really shaped the way I play today. I think I heard him in '83, if I'm not mistaken - I was 13 years old - and it really was amazing for me.

If my mom said, 'You better not do this!' I'm not one of those people who go, 'Well, I'm definitely going to do that.' I always thought, 'Okay, mom. I probably don't want to do that. She's probably looking out for me.' If it's someone who says, 'You'll never make it,' I'll just do what's in my heart. It's what I've always done.

I, like, prayed inside of my head as a little kid. I didn't grow up in a religious home, but we went to Midnight Mass. That was the only time I'd go to church, but when I did, I prayed that I wanted to be a successful musician. I got my wish.

If you go out to dinner with a group of people, pay for the dinner at a nice restaurant, for the amount of money for that dinner, you can get a John 5 Squier Telecaster and have it for the rest of your life.

Nothing's changed from when I'm seven years old to now. Nothing's changed at all. I like the same stuff that I did - Kiss, Van Halen, 'Happy Days,' 'Laverne & Shirley,' 'The Brady Bunch,' monsters and all that stuff.

I love Jimmy Bryant, and I love Albert Lee. Roy Clark. Chet Atkins. I love those pickers.

I never wished to be a 'rock star.' I just wanted to be a working musician. My dreams didn't even go past a session player or a working musician. It was too far beyond my dreams.

I love doing instrumental records; I love doing that.

I truly enjoyed my time with Manson and have the greatest respect for the incredible fans. I am grateful to have contributed over two dozen songs to his projects. It was a great creative outlet for me at that point in my career.

When I was younger, I had a horrible flight. Horrible. It was well before I was 10 years old. So I always thought to myself, 'I know I don't want to travel.' That's why I wanted to be a session guy, because I knew I could still play guitar and make a living at it - hopefully.

I love to learn, and I started doing a lot of studying of Spanish-style music and really started getting into it and how it is just a completely different form of guitar playing. It is just like if you started speaking in a different language like Japanese or something. It is something that you have to study and work at a lot.

When I was touring with Ozzy, you know, when I was with Manson, we toured with Ozzy, so many times, we did Ozzfest a thousand times, and, you know, it seems like I'm always playing with Ozzy in one way or another opening up.

I love meeting the fans, and I love shaking hands, and that's what it's all about. It really is.

I've been putting out records for so long, but I didn't want to tour because I didn't think anybody really cared.

I'll watch the Grammys and think, 'You hardly even see people playing guitar,' and it freaks me out.

Being the founding member of Loser, my decision to leave was not an easy one.

I love instrumental guitar records, but I also understand that, as a listener, it can be difficult to get through a whole album of just that one thing.

When I came to California, I came from such an upper scale neighborhood, I was so sheltered, but I always knew I wanted to live in California, and I wanted to play guitar.

I love watching documentaries on people like 'clean freaks,' because it's just so interesting to me for some reason.