Matt Skiba Quotes

With Alkaline Trio, we are who we are. We never really feel too confined, but when we get together, there is an Alkaline Trio sound, and when I go off and do something on my own, there is an element of freedom that I don’t have with the Trio.

Being a drummer definitely influences how I play guitar. And then piano influences drumming and vice versa.

We have this song called ‘Radio,’ and I wrote that song when we needed one more song for a record. So I went back into the other room and wrote it in 20 minutes.

My parents have always been very supportive. But now that I play in Blink, all of my parents’ friends are so jazzed that it makes my folks excited.

In this day and age, though, no matter how many people you play for, if you’re playing with a band like Blink, millions of people will see it thanks to YouTube and everything recording it.

To worship the devil, you have to believe in it first.

I’m really thankful for the time that I grew up in that we didn’t have cell phones, and we made a lot of our own fun.

Never had a mullet.

I’m the die-hard that still goes out to buy records.

The Sekrets record is very much me, and Dan‘s Emergency Room is very much him. And then Alkaline Trio is very much ours.

Jesus was not born on December 25th. There’s carbon evidence of it. That freaks people out.

I think who I am as a person on and off the stage is always kind of the same thing, but I don’t take a lot of things very seriously.

I was always a punk rock skate kid from a very young age.

Long before punk entered my life, I loved scary films and stories.

I was a bicycle messenger when Alkaline Trio was formed as a way to make ends meet before the band became a career, and I’ve just always been a cyclist – I BMX’d, and then I got really into – through messengering – I got really into road bikes and fixed gears, which I still have.

I think that the more that you play and the more instruments you play and the better you get at them, then you will be better off for it as a guitarist.

I dropped out of arts school because I didn’t wanna stare at a computer all day – I get headaches.

Orange County encompasses a large area that has a lot of Alkaline Trio fans.

Being on Epic, it wasn’t like we got signed to a multi-million-dollar deal.

I love working with my band-mates in Alkaline Trio, but to make a rock record that was just mine was something that I wanted to do.

People think we’re always dark and gloomy, and we’re not.

We’ve had kids come to our shows and ask us why we hate Jesus. It’s like, ‘Well, we don’t hate Jesus at all. We just think religion is silly, and it’s a really popular thing, but that doesn’t mean we have to agree with it.’

I’ve been to the Bahamas before, and it’s so crass. You land in Nassau, and the whole island is replete with beauty and culture, but there’s a lot of poverty. It is a largely black population; then they build these places like Atlantis and The Cove that are walled off.

With every inch of my energy, I wanted Fyre not to happen. I put all the electricity and energy in my body against that thing happening.

I feel like everything happens for a reason.

Fear is sort of like jealousy. It’s an unnecessary emotion.

There are things about this country that are horrible; there’s things about this country that are beautiful. I’ve been almost everywhere, and there’s nowhere else I’d rather live.

I think I’m a man about the things I need to be a man about, but I get paid to play, pretty much. I do what I love for a living, and I also get to build BMX bikes in my spare time.

At an early age I told myself I would never quit skating; I would never quit riding BMX and being a motorcycle junkie. I just can’t stop doing those things.

As far as, like, the moon landing… did we go there? I believe so. Is it everything that we’re told? I don’t think so.

I haven‘t eaten an animal in over twenty years!

I’ve written songs about love or about a relationship, but never just, ‘I love you.’

While I was in Chicago, I rode my bike everywhere.

I’m from the MTV generation.

All of my HH Jags have Ducati stickers on ’em.

I went through some pretty rough patches in my life, and I’ve come out of them a stronger, more inspired, and energetic person.

The feeling that you want the listener to get, you should get yourself when you first hit that chord, and that melody comes to mind.

I want recording to be fun.

I’m thankful for everything good and bad that happened to our band.

I really like a lot of the old 2-tone ska. I definitely went through a phase where I was into The Specials and The Busters. But a lot of the ska revival – I never really have had an interest in that.

We certainly are proud of our punk-rock heritage, but when people who like other kinds of music are into your band, it’s flattering.

The Devil is fun.

When George W. Bush was up for re-election, we took part in Rock Against Bush.

The first line of the song is always the hardest thing to write. And then after that, the song should – unless it sucks – it should write itself.

Meditation has really done wonders for me personally and artistically.

The Church of Satan was something, aesthetically, that we were always really fascinated with and wanted to emulate. I think it’s a good look.

Dallas is a good town. I spent a lot of time there as a kid. It always nice to come back.

I see kids in Cradle of Filth shirts at our shows, which is awesome.

I have never played in a ska band.

Death isn’t something that should necessarily be glorified, but I also don’t think it’s something that people need to be afraid of. It’s just the way it is. There’s nothing we can do about it.