Questions w/ Andrew Osenga (part four)

Here is part four of "Questions" w/ Andrew Osenga. How many installments are necessary before this turns into a "saga"? Oh well. Enjoy the interview and be sure to visit the links at the bottom to learn more about Andy and to purchase your copy of his new album, "Choosing Sides".

StSL – Let’s talk a bit about your songwriting process. Do you have any specific methods or places you go to for inspiration?

Andrew – I used to write the way I thought artists were supposed to: Late at night, sad, only when the moment hits. Now I think that’s ridiculous. To be great at anything takes commitment. It takes sitting down and aiming at something and working hard until that thing takes shape, or as often as not, turns into something better.

These days I find I write best when I have something in mind, some sort of project. Where the song is going to be heard helps me know what I’m trying to write. Is it a song for me? I’ve got four records I’d love to make soon, which one is it for? Does it belong in a story arc, is there some scene this needs to fit? Stuff like that. Once I know what I’m writing I can sit down at 9 am, answer my email, make my phone calls, turn off my phone and write til lunch. Also, deadlines don’t hurt!

I wish my process was more romantic, sexier, but it’s really just working. I find I’m rarely inspired when I’m watching TV, but daily inspired when I sit down and just start writing.

StSL – I love songs that are both personal and universal, which is certainly something I find in your songwriting. Is that something you deliberately strive for?

Andrew – Absolutely. “Who’s Going to Ride Your Wild Horses” by U2 came on the radio today and I was again amazed at how that song does this very thing. So personal, so universal. I have no idea what its about and I understand every line. I love that type of song.

StSL – I think darker songs tend to be really beautiful, possibly because it’s often easier to access vulnerability in pain than in happiness. What is your experience like writing about painful themes versus happier ones?

Andrew – Well, honestly, it’s easier. It makes you feel more artsy. But in the long run I worry that it can become a crutch. The first two Counting Crows records where great, but now I’m like, “Adam, cheer up, buddy, it’s ok. Go to bed. Get a dog. Go for a jog!” I think those songs work because they’re a part of the truth of our experience, but they work BEST when they’re in context. Twelve sad songs is hard to listen to. Twelve real songs, about joy and sadness, happiness and grief, how those things coexist, that’s a record I can keep digging on.

I guess, personally, I’m just tired of feeling like a sad sack. I think I was probably dealing with some depression/anxiety when I first started writing and I learned how to use it as a part of my process. Then, however, it started to become definitive of who I was and I realized “I don’t like this guy.” I wasn’t depressed anymore, life wasn’t perfect but I had a few things going for me, and still I just wrote sad songs. WHY?? So I forbade myself from writing sad songs the year of 2008.

It’s a lot more work to sing about joy, for some reason, probably because so many terrible songs have used all these good words and expressions in such inane ways and kind of ruined them. You have to come up with new ways of describing joy, new frames for a new picture. It’s not easy. But I’m thrilled when it happens. And now I feel I’m telling more of a complete story, with lights and darks, and hopefully a thread of peace and hope throughout.

StSL – Finally, there's something I've been dying to ask you about. Last time we talked, you mentioned you were working on a “quite ambitious project about a spaceship”. Can you shed a little more light on that for us?

Andrew – No. But it will be awesome. Time and money, my friend, time and money. That’s what it’s going to take for my magnum opus to achieve liftoff. Maybe this year, who knows?

Huge thanks to Andy for joining us again! A great guy and a great artist. StSL owes him a lot. And, as soon as the news is unveiled about the spaceship project, you better believe you'll hear about it right here! Check out the links below and join us right back here in two weeks when "Questions" returns with Rachael Cantu.

Andrew Osenga Official Site
Andrew on MySpace
Brite Revolution
The Rabbit Room