When Martin Sexton is in a rut, he drives his internal editor crazy through utter chaos: two radios playing two different songs simultaneously.
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Andrew Marlin of Watchhouse (FKA Mandolin Orange) gets his best writing done between midnight and 4am.
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Morgan Wade’s songwriting process doesn’t involve a lot of sitting around. But it does involve some really early mornings. And I mean early.
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Steve Gunn’s songwriting process never stops. Even when he’s not writing, his receptors cast a long throw over his environment as he mines for ideas.
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BJ Barham of American Aquarium and poet/novelist Joe Wilkins discuss the powers of poetic observation and why reader empathy is important. And listen to BJ explain why he’ll never write a song about pancakes.
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For George Clarke and Kerry McCoy of Deafheaven, it’s the ritual before the creative process that’s more important than the ritual during it.
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Whether he’s longboarding or reading to his kids or drawing, Bardo Martinez of Chicano Batman is always thinking about his next song.
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Julien Baker and Matt Nathanson make music not just because they want to, but because they have to. For both songwriters, it’s a vital form of self-expression that’s not always easy.
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“Raw source material is supposed to be crap,” Michelle Zauner says. “You have to allow yourself to be terrible.” Her best writing comes in the revision process, not in those “garbage” first drafts.
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Josh Kolenik of Small Black draws from both Excel spreadsheets and Raymond Carver when he writes songs. He looks everywhere for inspiration. “It’s important to have a breadth of material to draw from,” he says.
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There are days when the songs just won’t stop coming, says Bartees Strange. His job as an artist is to stand there and try to catch all those ideas. “It’s like holding a bucket outside in the rain,” he says.
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