I've never, ever in my life enjoyed playing live the way I am now.
— Richard Marx
I can't wait to front my band with these new songs and play for fans, but I've decided to keep my day job too.
I don't think I've ever laid out a batch of songs that pick myself apart the way that these do.
I've always loved groups like U2 and Coldplay.
People take songs so literally.
The only thing that's a little tricky about it is sometimes people assume that if it's a new song, it's a reflection of what you're feeling or going through now.
I think I do better when things are a little tougher.
I'm now so keenly aware that I have everything to prove and nothing to lose.
I fell off stage and bruised some ribs. The worst part was that the audience didn't realize I was gone.
But more importantly, I think he remembered how very close I was with my own dad, who had died in 1997.
It never ceases to amaze me that I get to do this for a living.
I have complete freedom, and there's no way to get pigeonholed or bored. What could be better than that?
I understand that, but this disc shows the type of music that I've always liked and wanted to make.
So it was just a case of getting a bunch of songs that I had been writing for years but hadn't recorded together, and the result was My Own Best Enemy.
I love when people get songs wrong. I love when people take something from a song that's totally not what I intended!
I've never written a song that I thought was a hit.
I think really what I'm saying is that I thrive on adversity.
In the past, there has always been so much pressure about carrying a show and promoting a record.
One time Robert Plant was set to check into the same room after I checked out, so I removed every light bulb and ordered up a bunch of stinky cheese and put it under the mattress.
It's funny; Luther and I have written many songs together, but we've never written songs in the same room.
And to any new fans we made along the way, I say... welcome to our party. It's just starting to get going.
My joke, which isn't really a joke, is that there will be one of two tours: the tour for the album that does well, or the tour for the album that stiffs.
But once you have some success in one style, the business wants to lock you in that vein forever.
I really didn't have any plans to record prior to doing My Own Best Enemy.
I'm happy, I would say that I'm one of the happiest people I know but I've certainly had periods of profound sadness, depression and heartache and those are the kind of things that are interesting to me to write about.
When things are too easy I lose interest in them so I find ways to complicate them to get myself interested.
But I'm just having fun playing and giving Botox injections to the older songs.
I didn't want my last chapter to be the guy who sits at the piano and sings love songs.
As a songwriter, there's nothing better than winning Song Of The Year. But I couldn't really celebrate, because it wasn't right. Luther wasn't standing next to me, to receive the award.
Doing my own album provided me the opportunity to say whatever I wanted.
