ou recently released some free downloads for Covered in the Flood — what are the other songs on the album going to be?
Chris Carrabba (CC): I released four and I did a 10 song record. So in addition to the free downloads, I also did "Weathered Front," "Tall Green Grass," "End of the World As We Know It," "We Used to Be Friends," "The Commander Thinks Aloud," uh, I can't think of the tenth right now (laughs).
N-L: What made you choose these particular songs to cover and release?
CC: They're different songs that have stuck with me for a long time, like "Cape," which I've been listening to forever. I was always intrigued by the first stanza about a kid thinking he had the ability to fly, but then the rest is about a grown-up, so looking back on that as a grown-up . . . I'm not sure I believe in it any less than I did as a kid. I just do songs that have been really powerful for me, that I think I can give a spin on.
N-L: When can fans expect a new album of original songs?
CC: I don't know, I started playing some new songs on this tour . . . I'll probably come home from this tour, have my Christmas holiday, get to work on something.
N-L: Can you talk about your approach to songwriting?
CC: More often than not, messing around with the guitar, just playing gibberish, when I lay into the dictaphone, it's kind of a surprise, but there's a song there. You've said what you needed to say to make the song. It could be a whole phrase or an entire chorus. Sometimes the whole song is there, fully cooked and you realize you've been working on it in the recesses in the mind. And I think you're really lucky then, like you're the vessel for the song if you're open to the song gods or whatever, it just comes through you. I've had that experience more than once.
N-L: Do you have favorite songs you've written, or songs that you're reluctant to play?
CC: There are a few songs I can't connect with them the way I'd like to . . . on occasion a whole city wants to hear it and I just can't find it. I feel pretty connected still to the moment I wrote "Vindicated." "Remember to Breathe" turns into something different every time I play it, so it's interesting to let the song happen on its own. "The Places You Have Come to Feel the Most" I feel connected to every night.
N-L: And finally, what is the weirdest experience you've had as a result of being in a famous band?
CC: I don't understand how people get keys to your hotel rooms! I've expected to come to empty hotel rooms . . . and they haven't been empty.
