Rehearsing the songs ‘come on’ and ‘somebody killed the DJ’ for the new new album tonight. Getting ready for Sunny Day to come visit. Getting ready for this trip to Europe. 

Listening to the top 40 station here. one cheesy rock song after another comes on. some of them are good. but for the most part very crafted. Plastic. Artificial. The life blood so sucked out of them that you feel no humanity in them. No wonder real artists have a tough time surviving in today's music market. They come they go. they rise slowly and then poof they're gone. The formula is very much working against long term artistry right now. every now and then a real talent or some life will seep its way into the mainstream, people like coldplay or Norah Jones. Thank God. But for the most part its just plastic hype and recyclables. I had this epiphany in the car listening to the songs come on and off. So much pressure the last few years listening to everybody’s opinion about our music and how to formulate a good song, and what sounds too eclectic and not commercial enough and all this crap you hear from everyone around you in the biz. And I've just always done what I wanted no matter what. 

Spent all day writing and practicing songs. Working them out. trying to find just the right ones for the new new album. 

For fifteen years, I have just always made music that I like without concern for what would be commercial or what would be a hit. And a lot of my friends and especially music business associates and advisers have always advised me against it – trying to get us to slide a little bit over to the mainstream or at least try to blend in a bit but today when I was listening to this station and to all the bands coming on sounding the same, I felt this real excitement swell up with in me because we don't fit into that, and I love that. I mean I really like that. I like that we don't have that sound. And I think that if you can build a big audience over the years just doing what you do regardless of its commercial or mainstream appeal you're there. that's the goal. The goal isn't the commercial success. The goal is the success on your own terms. Doing your thing and not fitting in with the rest of the sheep. Someone like Eminem is a great example of that. he certainly didn't fit in when he first came out. Its kind of out of left field his whole style and sound really. But of course now it is a very influential and predominant style. 

Last screening: Conspiracy

Kinks return to waterloo

American presidents