Details: The Living Kind - I listen to a lot of Metallica. James Hetfield is one of my favourite guitarists. I took his 'down down up' picking style and put it to a three-time jig feel, then practised it for about ten years, before I could get my head around singing to it... but when the song was ready to come along, it did so in twenty minutes. It's hard to get out of bed sometimes, and most days it's almost impossible to see things clearly. Since I turned 40, I've felt that I'm starting to run out of time... but I've still got a lot of work to do. I wrote this song as a marker on the map. It's good to want to be The Living Kind. - The songs are about growing and changing for the better, for the most part. Turning 40 brought me a lot of peace during a tumultuous period. It was as if I finally reconciled with some of the darker corners of my nature. I have had to make some drastic decisions in order to look after my family - selling our house, relocating a couple of times - and have since had to rebuild accordingly. The songs are about staying positive, trying to keep an eye on the centre, holding on to those you love and working towards a better future.

John Smith - The Living Kind (CD)