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Greg Lake 1947~2016


Mike

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Greg Lake was quite the visionary, always pushing boundaries and adhering to absurdly high standards. I got to interview him three years ago in one of those discussions that ended up being about much more than songs and songwriting. He got what I was going for: How do you think? (my M.O. in pretty much every interview). The hard part for him was never writing riffs or hitting the notes, it was "fluffing out the inspiration." This means not only finding inspiration, but sustaining it, which is where the work comes in. He and Pete Sinfield spent three months gutting out "Closer to Believing," his side on the Works, Volume 1 ELP album. OK, so there's the relentless drive, but where does the inspiration come from in the first place?

"Inspiration really comes from a desire to share or to give."

That's the most concrete answer I've ever heard to this rather ineffable question. So, there's the formula: take an interest in others, find your inspiration and work tirelessly to bring your idea to completion without compromise.

Here's the full interview with Greg Lake. He was quite the raconteur, with some great stories about shooting the "I Believe In Father Christmas" video in the desert, and the time a rogue fireworks display gave them a scare.

greg_lake_fb.jpg

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