Craig Taylor-Broad
SPB: All creative people invest something of themselves into their work, but this seems especially true with regard to your solo work. Do you find it difficult to get into the right mood or mindset to perform these songs either when recording or in a live setting?
CTB: I think in terms of playing my songs live, the hardest thing is keeping a leash on the moment. Even old songs that aren't exactly relevant anymore spark a memory. There have been some intimate gigs where I'm halfway through a song and it's affecting me, and I can see it's affecting the audience also. The hardest thing then is not falling apart in the moment, holding back those tears I can feel burning into my eyes, and finish the set!
I think the biggest difficultly for me is creating, playing gigs, recording, and not letting the nature of my songs, the emotion of them affect my current mood. The hardest thing isn't so much getting in the right frame of mind to play emotional songs but having the ability to disconnect from them once the performance has past. It's something I've always struggled with, and continue to do so.