Finished writing my third album, started on the fourth...

Finally started writing again, and now the songs are more riff based than chord based. With the fourth album, I've got kind of a Beatles/Soul Asylum feel floating around.

I'm about four songs in, and I'm about to go down to the pool and write another. Any ideas on how I can kick up some inspiration (lyrically)?

anything notable happened between the albums you can write about?

heard anything interesting in the news that you have an opinion about?

if not just reading loads helps for inspiration.

also do you have a link to your myspace or whatever so people can hear this new stuff?

myspace.com/americanbrits

Unfortunately, I don't have any of the NEW stuff uploaded at this time.

Skold, how old are you? working on your 4'th album pretty impressive. I have some songs I have been working on for 10 years. I'm too anal and every thing has to be near-prefect. yep i'm a freak!!!!!!!!

I find inspiration and passion in odd places. Mostly form diffrent persepectives. Go for a drive and look at stuff. go sit under a bridge for a while. stay up all night, sit at a bus station for an hour. watch people and try to be invisible, and blend in. go to a bar or a laundry mat and just watch the interactions of people. give a homeless guy a buck and sit and talk with him. get drunk wake up with a hangover and look for now perspectives. most importantly get outside of your comfortzone.

That's some really good advice, guys. I especially like the "talking to a homeless guy" idea. A buddy of mine once did that, and he said "This guy just fuckin opened my mind to shit that was the utter truth".

I'm 15, turning 16 in September. Thanks for the compliment, mate.

If yer gonna be at a pool, write about the chicks in bikinis there xD

@GB666

Umm....No.

The guys then?
Maybe you swing THAT way?

@GB66

No, I just think singing/writing about girls in bikinis is useless.

Yeah aha I'm just pissin with yah.
Write about your emotions.
Think about how your feeling and then write down words that go with that, and then like clay, try to morph it into a song. Then just put the instrumentals behind it

or just go out and experiece things

@ Skold
I'll give you two lines. see what you can do with them. you got 30 minutes then we expect to see the finished product! LOL
I'm not cryin'
I just stopped tryin'

I think the bigest challenge about inspiration , is that you get used to something and comfortable with your day to day. if you like Notim said and experience things then you break out of that normal day to day stuff and may find new inspiration.

I moved across the country with out my family to start a new job. So during my drive i noted down some observations. now I'll put them into a song some time I just have not been inspired musically lately.

Yeah, I understand not being inspired, man.

Well, I'm 6 songs into the album (like always, 12 to finish), and I thought I'd give you guys a little taste of the writing on it.

"All I Want Is Love": There she goes again, running through her life. I can see the sun again. Is it worth living for in strife? You could be the eriquinn. Is it worth working for her love? I could have all I wanted then, but all I want is love, love. All I want is love.



Note: Can you find the Beatles homage?

Um, is the title a play off the song "All You Need is Love"?

That's part of it, GRX.

Hmm, well I don't listen to the Beatles too much, but I have an idea.

Is this from "Here Comes the Sun"? That's a Beatles song right?

Yeah, there's those two, but I can't see any others.

There's another part of it. GRX, you almost got 2/3 of them on the first try.

run for your life

travel, invite the hottest chick on school on a date, travel to a place with lot of tourists and meet chicks, think bout war in irak (check the irak from apple vid on youtube) get into problems, theres a lot of ways to get inspiration... abortionis a good thing to write about, drugs, sex, or a story.. any adventure youve had.. for example once i went camping in new mexico and a bear stole all my food.. thats a real story

Write about what matters to you, and only that.

I agree with Doz. If you just write something to try to gain others approval of the song or to sound cool, it total takes the expression out of the song and makes it all about image.

In my opinion, one can only write about what he or she knows. The rest is merely a fable.

Alright, since you guys couldn't find the 3rd homage, I'll tell you.

In the song "All you need it love", the last lyrics of the chorus is "All you need is love, love. Love is all you need". Now, take a look at the last lyric in my song: "All I want is love, love. All I want is love".

@SOY

I can't really write about that stuff because I've never experienced it, and it's just not something I think about all the time. I mean, I'll write songs based on experiences friends of mine have had, but writing about war and such is best left to punk bands.

Oh, I got that. I thought that was the first homage though! I wouldn't try to fit as many Beatles homages into one verse though!

And I would disagree with songs about war being written by punk bands. I mean, check out "One" and "For Whom The Bell Tolls" by Metallica, or "Rooster" by Alice In Chains which is largely acoustic-based.

Come to think about it, "Rooster" is about Jerry Cantrell's dad, who was in Vietnam, so if you don't have experiences yourself then you could talk to your parents or grandparents etc. Not just about war, but anything about living in the generations preceding us.

Skold: it doesn't have to have affected you directly, but if there's something you feel strongly about you can write about it without actualy experiencing it... like war. And I wouldn't say it's best left to punk bands.

I also got that Beatles referance, but as BHS said, a little much in just one verse.

I only actually discovered the other two Beatles references after listening to them (after the lyrics were written). Then I went back and saw a handful of them.

So... they aren't actually referances then? Just coincidance?

I prefer to call them "accidental homages".