Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner On The Band's Introspective New LP And His Book Of Lyrics

“I think I put my guard down a little bit,” he explains of the very personal nature of the album, which comes out today. “I stopped thinking about what the band was supposed to do or what people would anticipate or expect. My drummer Michael [Bland] kind of encouraged me to go with it. He was like, 'Don't think about what you’re doing. Just bring in songs that you wanna have a go at.’ It was very much just do what comes naturally. I'm like, 'Well God, it's a pretty laid back record.' I wasn't constantly going, ‘I need some punk rock on here' or 'I need something really loud.'

Check on the newest album: Minneapolis band's new record, Hurry Up and Wait, the moments of introspection really come to the fore, especially through the lyrics of the band's founding singer and songwriter Dave Pirner.