Countdown to 2011: Matt's 10 Favorite Quotes from Musicians in 2010 Interviews

Seattlest will be counting down to 2011 with a series of posts on our highlights of this year and what we're looking forward to in the next. Got a list to suggest? Send it our way. See the entire series here.

If you're reading this, chances are you call or have called Seattle home. If that's you, it's quite likely you've lived with, are friends with or are a musician. Quite possibly you are all of those things. Even if none of these categories fits you or anyone you know, your life experience has no doubt taught you musicians can be an odd lot. And I mean that lovingly.

In addition to getting to bore friends with suggestions of bands they haven't heard about and likely don't want to hear about, one of the great perks of the gig is getting to spend lots of time getting to know some of the most creative people on the planet today.

Over the past year I was lucky enough to chat with some of the best artists around today. While it was tough, I narrowed the list down to my top ten favorite quotes that resulted from such conversations. If you're at all interested in musicians, read through the list below and click on through to the full interview if you're so inclined.

Without further ado, ten out of context quotes...

It’s not about playing hacky sack, smoking weed and playing bongos in a circle. Basically, you attain enlightenment through suffering. Obviously, I didn’t attain enlightenment or become a Buddha or anything like that. But I attained a certain amount of knowledge from the pain that was Los Angeles.

I wouldn’t write a song about Seattle because I wouldn’t want to compete with a classic. Everybody knows the Bobby Sherman song.

I like to picture specific places and times when I write, and I just try to make the feeling of that place come alive in the song. I'll go through phases where certain imagery appeals to me, so I just try and figure out how to use that in whatever songs I'm working on.

I try to let mistakes happen when I am writing, sometimes those moments create tangents that can spawn whole songs or ideas. I didn't study or have any formal training so its really about discovering for me.

When a moment in life passes by that's so beautiful you can't help but try to replay it in your mind over and over again, good or painful. Those are the moments I try to harness in my lyrics so all you have to do is push the repeat button.

We're little kids most of the time but we're also men about the way we are with each other. We're very respectful. We listen and we pay attention to each other. There are no egos involved and no competition.

All you have to do is have heard the end of Abbey Road to get the message. “The love you take is equal to the love you make.” That’s all you have to keep in mind when you come to any concert. You’re only cheating yourself if you’re not going to give something back to make the experience for everyone.

We play every show as if it were our last or if our life was on the line. No exceptions. People will hear the sound of gratitude. We truly appreciate the privilege of being a touring artist.

We used to listen a lot to Sunny Real Estate and Jeremy Enigk's 'Return of the Frog Queen' was one of my favorite albums when we started...

The way we listen to music, we almost are trying to take it, sort of like you might take vitamins. A diversity of different nutrients in your body and you hope that somewhere deep down they’re crystallizing or forming into something substantial and meaningful.

On the heels of his most uplifting album to date, he provides this year's most uplifting quote. Thanks, E!