Can you talk about that?

It really did.

Yeah.

So from, from the, the band that I was in in the late '90s and just into the turn of the century, The Glider, I'd worked really, really hard and, and written a lot of songs and, um, worked through a number of very, very, uh, taxing and difficult sort of situations.

And then when the band exploded, and I found myself on the outside of the band, and the rest of the band w- had all got together as Ronnie Wood's backup band, and I had no idea, and I d- I came in home, turned on the TV, and there's my whole band with Ronnie Wood.

And, and I'm, I'm on the outside, you know, in a rented room in, in Streatham, which is, you know, a, a, not a, not the greatest place in South London.

And I just took that really, really, really personally, and I was like, "Well, that's it.

I wonder as a guitar player and maybe as a singer as well, being in a band and basically getting deep into what Cream did or what Eric Clapton did, did it teach you anything else about Eric that you didn't know as a player?

Will, as, as, as we, Will, as we welcome you to, to the show, um, growing up surrounded by musical royalty, the, the whole Johns family, Pattie Boyd, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, at what point did it stop feeling like it was your family and start feeling like you were immersed in history, or vice versa?

Well, that's an interesting question, and, and thank you for, uh, asking that.

I'm not sure if anyone's ever asked that question.

Um, and I don't know if it's, if it's right or not, but what immediately springs to mind was there was a, a period of time when, um, when I didn't want to do music anymore for one reason or another.

It hadn't gone well, and I'd ended up being, um, [laughs] after working very, very hard and being very, very close to ha- having a, a, a very lucrative record deal with Sony Records, which just the band and everything all exploded into a, i- into a shower of supermodels and, and, uh, whatnot.

And I kinda took that a little bit personally and, um, and made the decision that I was, that, that's it.

I'm, I must concentrate on, on putting a roof over my head first, whatever that means, whatever that entails.

Talk about everybody who's involved with it, and give us a little insight into the creative process of the creation of it.

Ah.

You know? I taught myself, but I, I actually started out messing around with the drums in the studio underneath the house.

And a lot of the time he'd be on tour, so I sort of just had the run of the house.

I could just sort of do what I wanted.

Anyway, so I'd be down in the studio wailing on the drums early in the morning, and I guess one time I was down there smashing around at 6:00 in the morning and, and he came down and, and he very kindly, he didn't shout at me or anything.

He was like, "Look, come, come on man.

It's a bit early for this." And, and he said, "Why don't you play a proper musical instrument?" And, uh, and he kinda nodded towards, there was a lot of guitars in the living room because that was at the time when he was developing i- the signature Stratocaster, the Eric Clapton Strat.

I wanna jump into, you know, you speaking of, uh, the impetus for your, your song there, Tears Of A Butterfly, but I wanna jump into the new album, On Top Of The World, because the title itself was inspired by your journey around the world and finding yourself alone on top of the mountains and volcanoes of Guatemala.

Ah.

You know? I taught myself, but I, I actually started out messing around with the drums in the studio underneath the house.

And, you know, a lot of the time he'd be on tour, so I sort of just had the run of the house.

I could just sort of do what I wanted.

Anyway, so I'd be down in the studio wailing on the drums early in the morning, and I guess one time I was down there smashing around at 6:00 in the morning and, and he came down and, and he very kindly, he didn't shout at me or anything.

He was like, "Look, come, come on, man.

It's a bit early for this." And, and he said, "Why don't you play a proper musical instrument?" And, uh, and he kind of nodded towards...

I wanna jump into, you know, you speaking of, uh, the impetus for your, your song there, Tears Of A Butterfly, but I wanna jump into the new album, On Top Of The World, because the title itself was inspired by your journey around the world and finding yourself alone on top of the mountains and volcanoes of Guatemala.