Around '75 when the recession hit, club owners started going to disco because it was cheaper for them to just buy a sound system than it was to hire a band.
Tommy Shaw

As a solo artist, I just felt cemented in front of the mike stand. There was very little time to play with the audience and be a band member.
Tommy Shaw

By the time I did that third solo album, I'd finally learned how to do it, but I'd also learned that I liked being in a band.
Tommy Shaw

I don't like looking back.
Tommy Shaw

I don't write on tour. There is so much to do day in and day out when you are on the road.
Tommy Shaw

I feel like I have the greatest life an artist could dream of.
Tommy Shaw

I have always been a sucker for the big, upbeat chorus.
Tommy Shaw

I like being on the road, living in hotels. While I've got a real nice house, I go crazy when I'm there.
Tommy Shaw

I love the idea of stepping out of the band situation into a solo world with no boundaries, no expectations, where nothing is out of bounds.
Tommy Shaw

I soon gave up instruction for self-teaching.
Tommy Shaw


I was born in Alabama and my first live music experiences were in church. Every Sunday we watched regional gospel groups on television singing their hearts out.
Tommy Shaw

I wish I had a nickel for every song that I've left in the bathroom, written down on a matchbox, or just totally forgotten about.
Tommy Shaw

I wrote songs all my life, where anyone wanted to hear them or not.
Tommy Shaw

I'd better be on the road, or I'll be going nuts. I'm not the kind of guy who sits around with a pipe and slippers watching soap operas.
Tommy Shaw

I'm not the kind of guy who deserves to play a vintage guitar because I'm too rough on instruments.
Tommy Shaw

I've always stuck with Gibsons. I've had Guilds and Fenders, too, but I always wind up going back to Gibsons.
Tommy Shaw

If I have an idea, I write it down, although I usually carry a little dictation machine with me because I'm too lazy to write.
Tommy Shaw

If music became extinct now, I don't know what I'd be good for.
Tommy Shaw

It is all about being open and paying attention to the music in your head. I think most people have original music playing in their heads from time to time.
Tommy Shaw

It was more fun trying to figure out I Want To Hold Your Hand than to take lessons. By this time I knew basic chords.
Tommy Shaw