Greg Kurstin

I was in school with Dweezil Zappa, Frank Zappa's son, and we had a band. Only in L.A. could stuff like that happen. We would hang out in Frank Zappa's studio, and we released a single in 1982 on his label. I was 12, and that was the first recording experience I had. To top it off, Eddie Van Halen produced it. ”

Something about a performance - it's in the air, it's in the moment. It never really bothers me when something goes wrong; I think it's kind of funny. ”

I try not to force my sound on everybody. I try to yield unto each artist and... I try to just support that sound rather than force a sound that might not fit. ”

I constantly have little panic attacks of wanting to change something on a production level, but I let go. ”

Sia is like no one else I've ever worked with. She comes completely from this non-logical but very emotional place. I could be wrong, but she doesn't really seem to analyse what she's writing. She doesn't really revise it, but goes with that first thing that comes out. ”

I like to write from scratch most of the time, but I like to have a backup plan just in case. ”

I left my band on my own, and it took me a long time to find major success again - almost a decade. And everything that didn't happen during that time just motivated me to do better. ”

I'm listening to Spotify all the time and pulling in different things. I might find an artist or a song that I like, and I'll pull that into playlists, and then you'll find related artists. But I like an album as a nostalgic thing; I remember buying albums and getting into the whole thing. ”

I like to live life and not work every second of the day, and spend time with my family and stuff like that. Balance is very important for me. ”