So my dad works at this hotel/country retreat pace near my house, so he mentions that he gets to use the gym and pool etc when it's quiet - so yesterday morning we get some shit together and head down there...I worked out for the first time in months and then hit the pool. Felt brilliant afterwards, just what I needed. Gonna aim to hit it once or twice a week while he's working there, but you know how it goes with gyms...

I'm working today and off down to the studio later to make a new podcast. Matt from MySpace is gonna add pictures and stuff to it for you all to check out (he did it to the last one, but I haven't had a chance to check it out yet).

Now have a large percentage of the words done for the record, just missing a few verses here and there...Should have them all finished over the weekend. I have been relying on memories a lot - been watching films and TV shows that I know will fill my head with words, reading over old things that i've written, old photos - I don't tend to write in specifics too often, but trust me when I say that everything from the past few years is in there somewhere. It's up to you if you find it.

Each song is pretty much a specific event in my life - I've tried to pick things that have probably happened to all of us at some point - and I've tried to make as universal as I can and still have it mean something to me. It's not as easy as I make it look you know (joke).

My two favourite things about writing lyrics are:

A good turn-of-phrase
All you gotta do is put familiar words in a different order/context/whatever and you got a line that'll have me hooked. Seriously, we have a song called 'Cool. Collected. Calm' and swapping two words makes me happy. I am easily pleased.

Making the words effect the music.
Ok, so this is really common in rap music. You have a line about something: "Mary had a little lamb" (for example) and then the sound of a lamb bleating plays in the background. Listen to pretty much every Eminem song for stuff like this (that scribbly pencil sound all over Stan anyone? I love that stuff). There is one that i've written in Caffeine, I hope it comes off as it does in my head, it'll sound wicked.

Ok, that's Lyrics 101 finished for today, I gotta go turn some more phrases and make more lamb bleating noises.

Max x