Tell Us about:

Your latest single you have released:

It’s a brand new year and my brand new single is called “Brand New Me”. From the POV of a guy who’s partner left him because he was such a f**** up, but in this song, he’s claiming he’s fixed everything about himself – and now he’s just p****** that she’s not there to see it.

Your favourite lyric in this song: 

“Now you’ve got what you wanted / All that you wanted me to be / Too bad you won’t be around to see / The brand new me / That you set free” 

Your favourite song that you have created that is an album track:

Oh that’s easy. Not just my favorite album track on my new album “Wonderland,” but favorite song I’ve written – the title track. Someone asked me on a podcast what’s my favorite song, and I said there’s no way I could pick one from 40 years and 3,000 songs. But then I decided to give it a try. I went back and listened to hundreds of songs in my catalogs and “Wonderland” was the winner. Then I found nine more songs I loved that no one had ever heard and put them together for this album.

Your favourite song to play live:

Many hundreds of times, when we were in our 20s, my band — Kook, Don, David and I — ended our show with a song called “White Noise” from my RCA debut LP “Fixation”. Now almost 50 years later it’s still how we go out – same guys, same song, but I think we play it faster and louder.

The song that was the longest to write and why?

I don’t spend a lot of time writing songs. For 20 years, I was a go-to-my-office, write a couple songs, turn them into my publisher to be pitched to artists, head home, and do-it-again-tomorrow career songwriter. I learned early on from the great Nick Lowe not to make any song too precious. Write it and move on. And if it’s not working, just drop it and move on. 

One of your previous tracks you would recommend for first time listeners of your music and why? 

The first song on the first album, “Something To Tell You” pretty much set the stage for the career that was ahead of me. But I would send a new listener to my album “Mistakes” – specifically the Dad Rock vibes of the last song “We Make Mistakes”, featuring the legend Michael McDonald on keyboards and backing vocals. We wrote that one together.

Dream collaboration:

After a lifetime of writing songs and collaborating with legends like Leon Russell, Michael McDonald, Alison Krauss, and of course, Taylor Swift, I think it would be pushing my luck to dare to dream for more after being so lucky. But I’ve wanted to work with Todd Rundgren since I was in high school. 

Describe the feeling you get when you walk on stage to do a show:

Nerves, excitement, and the knowing that me and three old friends are going to make some great noise tonight. We are on stage to have a good time and that’s what we do, and people seem to like it.

The track that is most fun to play live:

The song that’s the most fun (probably) to play live is the dumbest song we have (definitely) and we’ve been playing it since its 1981 release on RCA Records. It’s called “Call The Uh-Oh Squad”. It’s a little bit and sometimes very different every night and it’s a blast to see where it goes.

Essential items you always take on tour with you?

Well now I’ll always make sure I have pants. What? One show last summer I spent a beautiful afternoon loading in, soundchecking, dinner with the band — all in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt of course. Fifteen minutes before showtime in a packed theater I discovered I had brought a shirt and a jacket. But no pants! As panic set in, our road manager Lara Gray steered me into the restroom and threw her black jeans over the wall of the stall as she told me to drop my shorts over the wall to her. They fit. She saved the day. She’s the best.

Describe your fans in three words:

Intelligent, beautiful, generous! 

A song released in the last few years by an artist or band you wish you had written:

I don’t know who wrote it, but Claire Rosinkranz sings a song called “Frankenstein” that I think is a perfect pop song. And if you wanna go way back, there’s nothing better than “I Can’t Make You Love Me” written by Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin.

What we can look forward to from your band this year: 

We’ll be playing shows — club dates, festivals, etc., and finishing a record for release in (hopefully) September. We’re about 17 songs in progress. We can’t be stopped!

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