You've written a lot of music in your life. And even though it's spread across many years and multiple bands, there still seems to be a common thread. What does Bob Nanna 1994 and Bob Nanna 2015 have in common? I still write a lot of lyrics. From 1994-2004 I toured A LOT so there was ample downtime to write. I still have notebooks full of junk. Some standard journal stuff but a lot of lyric ideas. Nowadays I don't tour as much so I don't do as much of the journaling thing but I still jot down lyric ideas pretty much every day. And i've started to actually dive back into those old notebooks to spark some memories and help with writing future songs. Braid and even Hey Mercedes have a very guitar-centric vibe. Is that how your songs usually start? With cool guitar parts, and then vocals come later?Exactly. Guitar parts come first about 95% of the time. Then comes the vocal melodies, then the actual lyrics. They all can and usually change a little bit throughout the process but it generally follows that trajectory.How is the songwriting process different for you now than it was when you first started writing songs? It's the same. I haven't changed that much, I guess. Ha! One difference might be my recent willingness to write from alternate perspectives and characters. See: Downwrite.Help me understand the Bob Nanna method. Where does a song start, and where does it all end? What happens in between?I can take you through it on this song in particular. It's on the newest City On Film album (called La Vella) and it was actually sourced via Downwrite as most of the songs on the album were. I received the request to do a song for a wedding based on a relationship that began with a chance meeting at a party. Some great details were given about mutual favorite bands (ted leo, the pogues) and the cities in which they grew up. I read it fully and then i started taking notes on points i wanted to hit. Since Where The Wild Things Are plays a part in the story i knew I wanted to center the verses around the phrase "You Wild Thing." I thought it had a great spirit to it. Then I started writing the guitar part. Verse first, including an interesting (to me) intro, choruses, bridge. Then as the vocal melody is built, the structure of the song takes shape, and then the lyrics are plugged in and pretty meticulously dialed in.I don't know if you knew this, but you started a really cool site called Downwrite.com where people can get one of their favorite artists to write a song for them. How did you stumble upon this idea?My good friend Mark Rose and I were just chatting one evening about the idea of the two of us writing songs specifically for other artists. It then became writing personal songs for anyone who wanted them. And the next day we thought it would be better as a full songwriting community as opposed to just the two of us. It's been amazing so far and I love watching it develop.What demo of yours are we about to listen to and why did you choose it? "You Wild Thing (An Illuminous Life)" - i included the demo and the version from the album. I chose it because it's one of the newest songs I've worked on. It was definitely written to be the first song on the record as well.
