Phil Collen comments

Work With People Who Are Better Than You

Phil: It really helps me as a songwriter to write with someone who’s better than me, or different to me. The speed that they do things is a little intimidating sometimes but it’s just great to be around. I was writing with Sam Hollander, who wrote ‘High Hopes’ for Panic! At The Disco. He’s just awesome. It was really inspiring working with him because he’s so quick firing. You know he’s just writing away and just bouncing whole ideas. We had the whole thing done in an afternoon. You want to be around someone who’s gonna do that. When I did the G3 tour with Satriani and Petrucci. We were doing ‘Highway Star’ and from the first rehearsal I was like “F*ck, I’m gonna have to practice a lot more because I’m just gonna get left behind by these guys.” They’re just it’s so far over the top. John goes, “Well, if I do this harmony, Phil, you can do this.” It was further than I’d ever stretched on anything I’d ever done. I love someone giving you a helping hand and pushing you at the same time.