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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Journaling is not just an important part of the songwriting process for Paula Cole, it’s an important part of her life. Yet it’s just one piece of the Grammy winning songwriter’s very kinesthetic process. “I feel it in my body, like there are songs burgeoning,” she says.
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I first interviewed BJ Barham of American Aquarium in November 2020, and we had so much fun we decided to do it again! This time we added a third: S.A. Cosby, author of one of our favorite books from 2020, BLACKTOP WASTELAND. Watch these two creative heavyweights discuss the writing process and books and music.
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“I do a dream journal in the morning on an old IBM Selectric typewriter, then an evening journal on a 1983 Apple IIe computer. ”
Mike Doughty believes that old-school discipline is a necessary component of the songwriting process.
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“I get on with work no matter what emotions I’m going through. I show up to the studio every day and get something done,” says Daniel Lanois. The legendary producer brings the discipline he uses in the control room to his songwriting process on his new album Heavy Sun.
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For both Sarah Jarosz and Margaret Glaspy, the creative process doesn’t allow for much off time. Jarosz doesn’t write on tour: it’s where she collects her ideas. And when she gets home, that’s when she sifts through all those ideas. “Even if I’m not working on a song, I’m always checking into the creative process every day,” Jarosz told me. Glaspy’s process involves using improvisation as a part of her songwriting process, “acting like I know how the song is supposed to go,” she says.
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