Of course the playing is important but writing and the establishing of what you are going for is prime too.
It's hard to avoid the past but one goes forward.
In The Police, in a trio situation - which I've come back to now - it's just so wide open that it does actually provide this arena where you can play with a certain freedom.
I think we are coming to a new era where people will record much faster.
My favorite sounds are the high, spacey ones that are very ambient.
I've got four or five records in my head at a time that I try to work on and I would like to do a guitar trio record next - since The Police I've mostly made records with keyboards.