My recording career has luckily run the gamut of recording environments.
When I first went on tour with PJ in '98, I was still in shock having gone through the Soundgarden break up.
The fact that Eddie Vedder likes to play 3 hour plus shows a night, I have to be ready for that.
I still felt we had some really good music on that record, but it's a shame that we couldn't make it better. And the tour was a total mess. We just had no life, no energy, and I felt we were going through the motions.
No matter how much success you're having, you can't continue working together if you can't communicate.
Live life to the fullest, and focus on the positive.
Little things can make such a big difference during recording.
Like I'm in San Diego today and this is my hometown so I've got a lot of my friends coming and I definitely want to put on the best show that I can.
Joining another big time rock band was the last thing I was looking for, but as the tour went on, I really dug playing to a lot of people, the band sounded great, and just being out there again, got me over my depression and so I decided to hop on board.
In my last band, Soundgarden, I had a couple of different drummers sit in on some stuff and it was fun for me to kind of take a break and watch the band.
I've talked to some drummers who seem to have a very hard time staying in shape on the road, including some drummers touring with high-profile acts that don't have to live on fast food every night.
I'm always going to get more of a charge playing Chicago than I will Duluth or some place like that. Just because of the history and the people there are way more knowledgeable than a lot of other cities. It's an amazing music scene with some great bands and great musicians.
I would never want to live in L.A., and I made that decision years ago, so I never chose that path for myself, although I have much respect for those that do it at a high level.
For me, I just try to make sure I eat enough and drink enough water and that's about it.
So, I just kind of played the way I played and then eventually we kind of figured out what worked best for the band. So, I definitely changed my stuff up and I think we're playing really tight now.