Day In The Life: Richard Thompson, guitarist and songwriter

5.30am

If you'd told me when I was 20 years old that I'd be getting up at this time everyday because I couldn't stay in bed anymore, I would've laughed uproariously!

I'm on the road by 7.30am dropping my son off to school. I live within a few miles of two of the top five traffic intersections in the world. For sheer volume of traffic it's unbelievable, but generally it keeps moving, which is a miracle.

When I get back home I catch up on e-mails, do a few domestic chores, and sort out the business of the day. I'm internet capable, or at least internet equipped. Put it this way: I'm a computer owner. I have both a Mac laptop and desktop Mac.

10.30am

House of Blues Studio, where we recorded the new album Sweet Warrior, is about half an hour's drive away. I jump on the freeway and drive over the hill.

I moved to Santa Monica (as my primary residence) about 15 years ago, because the weather's not too bad, and because I work more in the States than anywhere else. And also, in order to spend more time with my family, it's a more logical place to live.

I like America once you get west of the Rockies. I can go hiking in a national park just at the end of my street. Although I do miss things about the UK, I'm there a lot: at least twice a year if not more.

11am

The House Of Blues studio in LA is really a private house. I think Tito Jackson used to own it. They've converted the lower floor of the house into a studio.

To get good sound I think you need to have a bit of air in the room, especially for things like drums. It also helps to have some windows. Normally studios are disgustingly unhealthy places. That's why I try not to have long days.

There are always some songs that are difficult, and with this album it was the Iraq war song "Dad's Gonna Kill Me". We had to do four takes before we got it right.

It's unusual for me to write about America, but I became fascinated by all this American GI jargon. There are websites of GI rap and poetry with phrases such as "Dad's Gonna Kill Me: I'm in Baghdad", or "Dad's In A Bad Mood", "Dad's Got The Blues". So I slung these together into a song and quickly realised that it was totally impenetrable to anyone else. So I modified it a bit and put in some other references to make it more accessible.

3pm

By mid-afternoon we'll have at least one track done. At some point, I'll take a 10-minute nap on the couch.

In-between songs amps, guitars, drums, etc are changed or modified. You always need to allow for engineering time. "Who knows where the time goes?", as someone famously said. It's extraordinary how time disappears in a studio.

Nowadays everyone seems to know what they're doing. We're all more focused and there are less drugs around.

6pm

We think about ordering some food. After that we'll do another hour of recording.

For this album I was trying to use people that were in town. Danny Thompson was here. I've been working with him for over 20 years. Michael (Hays - rhythm acoustic guitar/harmony vocals) lives here. I would've asked Rufus (Wainwright) and Teddy (Thompson - his son) if they'd been in town.

8.30pm

We normally finish around now. When I was younger I could carry on into the early hours, but nowadays I find it's a case of diminishing returns. If you do a 15-20 hour day, there are normally huge troughs when nothing happens. Some people go into a studio fairly unprepared. I've always had limited studio time, so have always had to think about keeping it fairly tight and efficient.

When I get home, I'll unwind by watching some non-music related TV. I like football or ice hockey. The latter is the only North American sport that I can stomach.

11pm

If I'm not on tour I go to bed around 11, which is shocking! If I'm on tour it's 1am because I'm playing shows until late and it takes an hour to unwind. I don't seem to need as much sleep as I used to. Perhaps I have too much guilt to sleep properly!

"Sweet Warrior" is on Beeswing Music/Proper Records. He tours the UK in July, August and October

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