Navigating the Songwriting Journey

"I write the most when I'm supposed to be doing something else because it tricks me into thinking that songwriting is rebellious," Meg Duffy (aka Hand Habits) told me. "It feels like I get to choose to do it." I love this quote so much. It illustrates how we sometimes have to trick ourselves into being creative. 

Duffy used the word "summon" a few times in our conversation regarding their songwriting process, which implies actively calling on something to be present rather than passively receiving it. This is the eternal question for the songwriter: do you wait for the muse or try to summon it?

Summoning can happen everywhere for Duffy: they even did some summoning during a recent oil change. Duffy also uses walking as a way to summon. In this episode, we dig into all our collective methods of summoning. But stay for the hilarious story of how, when Duffy lived below Kyle Thomas (aka King Tuff), summoning became very, very difficult.

The latest album by Hand Habits is Blue Reminder. It's incredible.