I thought I'd do something nice for the band... I'll hang myself.
I would say 'struggling' is a good word. We were all struggling to keep doing what we were doing, and more things were expected of us. I mean, one of the big things was how in the world are we going to top 'Hotel California?'
One thing that was frustrating to us, always, was having to do so much press building up an album, and you're asked so many questions about, you know, is it more melodic, is it heavier, are you doing your old stuff, is it new?
A lot of it was really, really fun, but at some point, things started getting weird. We didn't allow each other to breathe. We didn't really have a sense of ourselves individually. We were very insecure... We were really threatened by the thought of 'Oh my God, what if someone goes off and does something outside the band?'
It was very difficult for me to be the only lyricist in the band.
I suppose one thing that's always fascinated me is that thing where you're a band and you want to start recording and you get a label and a producer, and then there's that pressure to go out there and really toil.
Journalists constantly ask Metallica if the success of their new album means they've had 'the call' to record a Zeppelin cover album yet.
But I was in the Radiohead studio today and Phil was there drumming and Thom was there playing. We feel like we've only just stopped and already people are wanting us to carry on.
Working with the brothers can put pressure on my voice, so I choose to do my own solo thing so I can save my voice. I couldn't do both now. The Neville Brothers is a funk band; they play loud, and I have a strong voice.
It became apparent to me near the end of the album cycle for 'House Of Gold & Bones' that it had basically run its course. But the band kept pushing for more dates, and I was just, like, 'It's time to stop!'
I thought 'Gutterflower' was a really good record, but the album before that got so big that everyone expected us to go through that again.
