In the days when I roamed the stratosphere with the assisstance of substances created by God, groomed by Mother Nature and found use for by mankind, there were some good pieces I came up with. Creative, inventive, adventurous, off the wall bits of music that saw through walls, skated on ocean moons, burrowed through bullet proof sandstorms and barked at the sensibilties of angels, God, man and beast.
Exactly the same thing happened without those substances. The difference being that I wrote far more with a clear head and all these years later, I still write. Lots. There's no doubt in my mind that various substances can assist in the creative process and there's no doubt in my mind that the same substances can be a destructive road to nowhere, partly because the effects feel great and partly because we as human beings have a hard time being disciplined with something that can feel so good and grant one such insights. Excess can be easy.
Interestingly, drink has never been part of that for me. I drink when I do because I like the taste of beer or wine, same way I like chocolate biscuits, so even when I first drank as a kid, getting wasted was never something I aspired to and still don't. Lack of sleep is a better creative avenue for me actually. So drink has never figured in songwriting for me. I suppose I could have just said that to start with, but what the heck ?
