When songwriting, I write using various instruments: piano, organ, guitar, bass or voice. Each instrument brings something different out of me.
Since I’m not very proficient at either, writing on guitar and bass forces me to keep things very simple. Composing at the piano offers a lot more musical possibilities. I tried to strike a balance between the two approaches when writing this new record.
Believe it or not, I wrote a lot of my Papa Grows Funk songs and Days End songs on acoustic guitar.
While writing for “River’s On Fire”, I made a conscience effort to spend a lot of time at the piano. Because I was trying to get back to what I loved about music, it was important for the inspiration and ideas to come from my first instrument, the piano.