Podcast
Songwriters on Process
Hosted by Ben Opipari · EN
In-depth interviews with songwriters about their songwriting process. Nothing else. No talk of band drama, band names, or tour stories. Treating songwriters as writers, plain and simple. By Ben Opipari, English Lit Ph.D.
34episodes
Episodes
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Dragos Chiriac (Men I Trust)
5d ago00:55:21Tap to summarizeIt's not often (ever?) that I get to talk Hegel, Jung, and Goethe with songwriters. But Dragos Chiriac of Men I Trust and I go deep into philosophy in this episode. I am a huge fan of the band and enjoyed our discussion immensely as we talk about the impact these writers have on Chiriac and why he returns to them over and over.Lest you think this episode was all about existential angst, we also discussed the relatively simple reason why the band wrote my favorite Men I Trust song "Billie Toppy."
Transcribe →Keenan O'Meara
2w ago00:52:27Tap to summarize"The failure is not in writing a bad song. The failure is in writing no song." Keenan O'Meara has always honored the value of work. Maybe it's because he's also a carpenter by trade, but discipline is his asset even though it's not something that comes naturally. "You have to teach yourself how to work. We've been tricked by the idea of divine inspiration for far too long," he told me. Carpentry has been a boon to his process. "It's great for songwriting. If you ever find yourself out of songwriting ideas, get a carpentry gig." I have to agree: O'Meara is one of several songwriters I've interviewed who are also woodworkers. Keenan O'Meara's new album is Bathe in the Everlasting Light.
Transcribe →Jason Newsted
2w ago00:38:08Tap to summarizeJason Newsted blends words and acrylics. Literally. The former Metallica bassist and leader of Jason Newsted and the Chophouse Band is also an accomplished painter, and to get started he'll often write song lyrics (not his own) on a blank canvas, then paint over them. The lyrics serve as a way to stimulate his creative process as his brush strokes move over the words and mix. Newsted gives me a great example of how he recently did this with a Jim Croce song. This episode is a deep discussion about the creative process and what drives us to create. Newsted's words are wonderfully thoughtful.
Transcribe →Molly Hamilton (Widowspeak)
3w ago00:41:24Tap to summarizeI'd like to call myself an OG Widowspeak fan, as I told Molly Hamilton. I saw them when they opened for 2:54 back in 2011 or 2012 on their first tour, and I became an instant fan. Hamilton and I go deep into the songwriting process, including how jobs outside of songwriting can be a boon for creativity--in Hamilton's case it's the food industry, and in her husband Robert Earl Thomas's case it's carpentry--and how becoming a new parent changes, well, everything when you're a two-person band and you're married.The latest Widowspeak album is Roses.
Transcribe →Nick Allbrook (Pond)
Jun 2400:47:19Tap to summarize"Hard work is important, and it feels good. My family put a lot of stake into working hard, so it's been ingrained in me," Nick Allbrook of Pond told me. We did this interview at 6:30am his time, so that's all you need to know about his discipline. But hard work means nothing if you're not attuned to your environment. Allbrook has that covered too: "You miss out on all of life's beautiful moments and forget that you're a writer if you're always staring at your phone. Once you put it down, inspiration is everywhere." Pond's latest album is Terrestrials.
Transcribe →Futurebirds
Jun 1900:50:34Tap to summarizeGo Dawgs! Loved having the Athens-bred Futurebirds on the pod. They're no longer college students at the University of Georgia, of course, but as longtime friends and bandmates they've evolved from students to family men. As you'll hear, their songwriting processes have evolved accordingly.The latest album by Futurebirds is Far Out Country.
Transcribe →Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie)
Jun 1100:59:11Tap to summarize"If I could sum up my process, it would be this: finish everything," says Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie. "I finish every song I start even if I know in the first verse that it’s a complete pile of shit. I finish it because there might be a lyrical idea or a theme in the third verse or the chorus or the bridge that I can use somewhere else."Unsurprisingly, Gibbard calls himself a "completionist." He finishes every song he starts writing, every book he begins reading. It's no mystery why he's so prolific, of course, but Gibbard's productivity is due to his efficiency: there's a purpose to everything he does in his creative process. He knows what works, and he knows what doesn't.Death Cab for Cutie's latest album is I Built You a Tower.
Transcribe →Greg Mendez
Jun 400:41:13Tap to summarizeGreg Mendez has a shelved album concept that he says you can have if you're a songwriter. The plan was to center each song around the rhythm of a different car's turn signal, and the title of the song would simply be the car's name (so "2003 Honda Accord," for example.) It never came to fruition of course, but it illustrates Mendez's hyperfocus on his environment as he mines for song ideas. Mendez's latest album is Beauty Land.
Transcribe →Euan Manning (Cardinals)
May 3100:46:25Tap to summarizeThe formula is simple. Step one, read great Irish literature. Step two, write killer songs. It's worked pretty well for Euan Manning of Cardinals so far. The Irish songwriter for the Cork-based band rattles off writers who have influenced him, and my god does he have impeccable taste: Flann O'Brien, Martin McDonagh, Kevin Barry, among others. As I always say, a clear through line travels from reading great writing to writing great words. The debut album by Cardinals is Masquerade.
Transcribe →Rostam
May 2500:49:25Tap to summarize"A great way to write is to overwrite. Write more verses than could be contained in a song. Then take the best of what's there," says Rostam Batmanglij. I cannot agree more: good writers know that the first pass is never the time to decide what to keep and what to leave out. Overwriting will always be faster. Just ask Anne Lamott.Of course, overwriting for Rostam comes easy because when he's not writing, he's thinking about writing. "I'm always collecting building blocks," he says. "Lots of kernels all the time. I've never truly let go of an idea." Rostam's latest album is American Stories.
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