Interview with Michael Lobacz:

  1. How long have you been writing? “4 years”
  2. What are the top three things that inspire you to write? “Life experiences, relationships, and society”
  3. Have you always written lyrics to be songs or were they for poetry/therapy? “songs”
  4. Does writing help you escape from the real world? If so, how? “Yes, by writing I feel like I can get things off my chest; things that I couldn’t express any other way. I can truly write what I feel.”
  5. What other kinds of things influence your writing? “Mostly other bands and life situations”
  6. Who is one of your favorite and most respected songwriters? “Paul McCartney or John Lennon”
  7. Why do you appreciate their writing and has it influenced you as a songwriter? “The songs they had written were before their time. No one has written better music, before or since. Yes, they have influenced me as a songwriter.”
  8. Do you think when people listen to music, they should dwell on the actual meaning the lyricist intended or should they relate it to their own life and have their own interpretation? Or both? Why? “Both. Because part of writing the music is enjoying the atmosphere of a fan base, in which they can relate the words to their own lives, while understanding where the writer is coming from.”
  9. When composing a song, do you derive the melody first, or the words? Or does it depend? “Usually the melody is written first.”
  10. When comparing 2 songs, what makes one piece stand out from the other in terms of lyrics? “A piece that would stand out to me would contain lyrics that I can relate to and know that they were well-thought out and heart-filled and that there was a meaning behind the songs. For example, the Beatles “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”: it relates to society and refers to a guitar symbolizing a person as it cries because of society.”