Things I Learned Along the Way — Huck’s Fiftieth Anniversary Special collects lessons learned and creative advice from fifty of the most inspiring people we know. Each day we’ll be sharing a new excerpt from the magazine. Today, War on Drugs frontman Adam Granduciel shares how facing his inner demons gave rise to a cathartic record that pulled him out of the dark.

#40 – Adam Granduciel

Every once in a while an album comes along that music critics align on. And in 2014, that album was Lost in the Dream. Journalists from Europe to America called the record “timeless” – a laudable feat for any band, least not on their third release. Adam Granduciel is The War On Drugs. You might see him leading a tight band when they play live, but when the music is being written, Granduciel is alone. Glance at the bleeding album cover and you can see this. But listen to Lost in the Dream and you can feel this. The album is deeply personal in the most secluded way. Revered for his emotional honesty, Granduciel speaks just as openly about his creative process – a process that sounds more akin to a long, hard slog than a singular epiphany.

“I still wrestle with the same kind of feelings that I’ve always had. When I was making the record, and I was alone most of the time, I was under a lot of pressure. I think a lot of those feelings I’ve always had in my life were magnified.”

“Some people can make beautiful things very quickly, and other people have to work on it day to day, to make it a craft. You work on playing guitar every day, you work on writing and playing piano every day. For me, it’s a little bit more of that approach. I don’t think I would sit down and just spew it out and have it be me. I feel like I have to work at it.”

This is just a short excerpt from Huck’s Fiftieth Special, a collection of fifty personal stories from fifty inspiring lives.

Grab a copy now to read all fifty stories in full. Subscribe to make sure you don’t miss another issue.