Greg Kurstin

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.

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.

Being in front of the cameras is not my favorite thing to do. But it's a good problem to have.

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 think my signature dance move might be some sort of '80s new wave pogo, which I only break out on very special occasions. It will only last for about three seconds. Then I go back to a very subtle, less-is-more approach.

It's really cool to hear your stuff in things like TV shows. It's a pretty cool feeling to hear what you did in the studio and then to hear it in places like that. It's definitely surreal.

I love Los Angeles, and I've secretly always wanted to do a song about Los Angeles, but it's a hard thing to pull off.

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

I really love headlining. Opening up is fun - getting to play for all these people who might not know you - but it's so much easier sometimes playing for people who know all your songs: you get that instant feedback.

You can't be in a bubble being a producer. You have to keep up on what's happening at all times.

When I was a young teenager, it was all about The Clash for me and that sort of English punk stuff. Then the Clash led me to all these other kinds of music: classic rock, Stevie Wonder, world music, and Brazilian music. I got serious about jazz when I was probably about 14 or 15.

As a songwriter and as a vocalist, Adele is amazing. You have that. But then there's something about her that's just very honest. I feel like so many people across the board can relate to her and who she is. She's just so appealing and very real.

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.

There's a lot of songs and songwriters out there - you have to make something stand out to pitch songs. Sometimes you have to be bold and just try something different. And just stick with it - don't give up if nothing happens.

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'm still waiting for rock bands to come back, something raw and relevant.

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.