Cris: How had you evolved as a songwriter from "Picture This" to "Sports"?
Johnny Colla of clients Huey Lewis & The News: I think during the preparation for ‘Picture This’ we (especially Chris Hayes and myself) were all feeding pretty heavily off each other in the songwriting department, and we all had an open mind during pre-production. In fact when I looked back at the song list recently, I thought I had written ‘Change of Heart’! That’s how intertwined we all were back then, and in fact my three contributions were heavily influenced by Chris musically. By ‘Sports’ we were all getting a little more ‘publishing/royalty savvy’ and that ramped up the songwriting; lots of good – and bad – ideas coming in all the time. I remember having a discussion with Chris around ‘Heart of Rock & Roll’ and ‘New Drug.’ My contention was that his guitar part was so integral to ‘Heart,’ and my horn line was so integral to ‘Drug,’ maybe we should just share a part of the publishing to get both our names on both tunes. Chris politely declined, and I think I got the better end of the deal! Many people are scared to share what they know on social media. They worry that others will steal this knowledge, those ideas. However, the best ideas require work, patience, and perseverance. To most people, those things are more frightening than a clown carrying a bloody ax. This brings the odds of theft happening way down.
I am continually surprised at the number of bands that throw up (sometimes literally) just anything for a post and then are surprised when people don't give it attention. If you didn't care about what you are posting, why should your followers?
"Being a great musician is like being a great chef. You don’t have any recipes. You just season to taste." - Kim Wilson of clients The Fabulous Thunderbirds
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April 2024
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