What's The Big Idea?

It was Fame Games' Laura ("dj crier") who suggested that I write this blog.

I take active interest in all sorts of topics, from esoteric to mainstream. I read voraciously every night without exception and I also watch as many YouTube clips as I can manage to find time for, also typically late at night. This cuts down my typical sleep to around maybe 5 or 6 hours, but it's worth it for me. I mean, how can you sleep when there's so much to learn and ponder!

It's the "controversial" topics that intrigue me the most lately. The perceived injustices, manipulations, lies, spin... I mean what am I to make of all those "conspiracy theories"? Are they all NUTS? Or is everybody else mislead? Who's telling the truth? Who's lying through their teeth?

Or what about some of the latest discoveries in science or archeology or psychology or medicine... Should I worry about the Swine Flu or Global Warming (erm... Cooling... huh?) or 2012?

I'm extremely rational, for an artist. But I'm also "cursed" with the ability to see too many shades of grey in everything. Is that a good thing or bad? I often wish I could just see things as simply black or white. And this makes my knowledge quest that much more urgent. So much to learn - so little time...!

So, Laura thought that all of this just might be someone's inspiration for a new song. And I thought this was a pretty cool idea!

I know that when I write, half the battle is knowing WHAT the song is about. I've written LOADS of "empty" and pretty meaningless songs. Sure, with enough skill and craft you can make just about anything "work" but the songs which mean the most to me are those which I wrote with a message in mind. That may have been something personal or something more general, but as long as I meant it - it made the creative process so much more intense and infinitely more fun.

And you know what they say: the best songwriters in the world are the ones who are the most informed and have the broadest horizons. In my feeble effort to live up to this hype, I always look for inspiration in what goes around me.

Perhaps you do to.

And if you do, then I hope some of the topics I'll randomly touch on in here will spark your interest too, and maybe you'll write me what you think - or better still, write a song about it! And if you do... make sure you submit it to Fame Games!