 Inspired by the latest release from Grand Rapids experimental band Paucity and motivated by a period of writer's block, former Satin Jones guitarist and vocalist Ryan Knott has committed himself publicly to releasing a solo record by late 2010. But breaking writer's block can be a daunting task. To shake things up a bit, Knott chucked everything he knows about writing songs in favor of something a bit more ... prophetic.
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Ryan Knott was genuinely excited to hear about his friend's forthcoming release, but he was also a little jealous - which was just the motivation he needed to break an extended period of writer's block.
"It made me think about making the record with Satin Jones and how fun, frustrating, exhilarating and exhausting it was. And, it made me want to do it all over again, " Knott wrote in his blog at www.ryanknott.com. So on March 14, 2009 Knott committed himself to a 12-song solo release to be released by the end of 2010.
To get himself moving on the project, Knott decided to shake things up.
"I’m taking a whole different approach this time, " he wrote. "Instead of writing the music and then putting lyrics to it as I’ve done my whole life, I’m going to write the lyrics first and write the music around them."
But he didn't stop there.
Knott raised the bar even further. Before strumming a single chord or writing a single lyric, he decided what the song titles would be first. They are as follows:
- All Good Things
- I Don’t Want to Wait for Tomorrow
- The Way You Feel
- I Have No Heroes
- Bought the Ticket
- Troubadour
- Doesn’t Seem Right
- The Long Ride Home
- Worth Your Time
- Got the Message
- Run Like a River
- Fighting Chance
So far, his self-imposed constraints have borne musical fruit. Knott's written the lyrics to "All Good Things" and most of the lyrics and part of the melody to "Bought The Ticket", according to his blog. But no music has yet been posted on his website and his summer calendar is quickly filling up with dates.
Will Ryan Knott meet his own musical challenge or be forced to eat his words?
Subscribe to www.ryanknott.com or friend him at Facebook or follow him with Twitter to find out.
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