I don't think I'm a political songwriter as much as I am just a political person. I think it's in my fabric.
To me, the guitar is a tool for songwriting, and it's fun, too. The day that it's not fun, that's when I'm not gonna play guitar anymore.
I'm tired of Glen Matlock saying he was the songwriter for the Sex Pistols. I co-wrote as many songs... but I don't go shouting about it.
Almost every band has somebody who's the main songwriter and who has a vision, a very clear idea of how a song should be.
Songwriting is a very mysterious process. It feels like creating something from nothing. It's something I don't feel like I really control.
I'm a writer, first and foremost, and I sort of take my cues from the songwriters of the '70s, who are talking about what's really important to them.
One of my favorite songs is 'Ghost' by Indigo Girls. Emily Saliers wrote that, and she is one of the most talented songwriters ever.
I think a lot of singer-songwriters get compared to each other, but I'd like to think that what I'm doing is special and specific to me.
I'm more of an artist and a songwriter than I am a DJ. That word seems a little bit - well, it doesn't really describe what I do.
I feel like I'm creeping closer to finding the situation that triggers songwriting, which is obviously an extreme of an emotion.
I have always been a singer/songwriter, and I was pushed in places I didn't want to do, like pop or top forty. I don't belong there.
As far as songwriters, I've always been a fan of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and George Gershwin; those guys mean a lot to me.
As a songwriter, oddly enough, my influences were people like Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, and Buddy Holly. Some psychedelic stuff, too.
Being a songwriter does not rely on an audience or other band members or a camera. I can just sit in a room and write songs.
The one mentality I've always tried to have is that no matter what stage in your career that you are in as a musician or a performer or a songwriter or whatever, there's always more to learn.
A lot of our tracks have sounded a lot better than I thought they would because of recording, mixing, and because I probably didn't hear it that way. I'm not a songwriter.
With acting I am being led by the script, other actors, the director, etc. But with songwriting I feel it is much more self reliant and allows me to be in the creative experience without being as dependent on others.
I've been writing a lot about my encounter with love. Which is the white stag as far as songwriting is concerned because love songs are so banal, and my experience with love is anything but that.
Being sent away to boarding school at seven is as great an inspiration as any songwriter could have - to be taken away from one's family and locked away for 10 years. It does create an incredible intensity of emotion.
And I look forward to the time when I can become more indulgent with my songwriting. But this band is a family, and it's a process that we have to grow with together.
When you get married and have children, and you start having hits and success and your business starts growing, there's less and less time for songwriting.
