Songwriting is never one thing. I’ve spent as long as three months writing a song. Other times I’ve done it in twenty minutes.
I don’t think art is a goal orientated business. I don’t do things for the challenges, I only do them because I love them, I’m not really a goal orientated, achiever type of person.
The early ELP albums were pioneering in a way.
Music is an emotional experience, and that is what imprints itself on the soul.
I feel with ELP that I wasn’t making the most of my life and I wasn’t making the most of my creativity. I was marking time. I don’t want to do that. Life is to short.
Unless you go forward then you are going back.
When you are in a band for a number of years you loose your identity in a way. You become a part of that band and then all of a sudden you are not part of that band. You are still the band without the other two members.
To make art you need to be inspired.
When you play music with someone who has a heart rather than playing with someone who is just doing it for money or is cynical it makes all the difference.
Philosophically, what I have learned is to thy own self be true. That is the biggest lesson of all. Relax; music is fun. To many people take it to seriously because of the money involved.
I continue to write. It’s just one of those things that I do. I’ll have periods when I write and periods when I don’t. But you don’t want it to become a discipline really. If it becomes a discipline, it becomes a chore and that’s no good.
I love to see new talent, new people beginning. It’s a wonderful thing, and one wonders where their journey will take them. Sometimes they ask me for advice but it’s very difficult to advise people. Everyone has their own destiny really.
Walking through the Capitol Building gives you a sense of how it all began here. It was reassuring to see how restrained it was. It was very humble in a way.
I love touring in the United States. It’s dramatically different wherever you go. North to south you’re going from snow to palm trees.
You want each city to be different, not just see the same shopping malls and stores wherever you go. That’s not healthy.
I understand travel. I understand the experience of travel. I mean there is something of the “air-conditioned gypsy” in me.
Traveling is a bit of a push sometimes. When you’re doing a lot of miles and you’re doing a lot of shows, it does get wearing.
I couldn’t say there is a formula to songwriting. Each time is a unique experience.
Sometimes you have to grit your teeth and remain tenacious and just believe the end will come. Other times it’s not an issue. You just write on and the end comes naturally.
As long as people want to hear me play and as long as I’m able to play, then I will. I enjoy playing and performing. If I wasn’t doing that, what else would I do?
I carry the dust of a journey, That cannot be shaken away. It lives deep within me, For I breathe it every day.