RD: Well, obviously maturity. I mean, we've been around a long, long time. Whole fads come and go between our albums, you know. [laughs] I think punk came and went between "Breakfast in America" and "Paris," our live album after that, you know. We tend to do things at a kind of slow pace, but maybe that's why we've lasted so long. But...nothing lasts forever, so I'm not sure how many more tours and stuff we're going to be able to do.

How has technology helped bring out this album?

RD: Well, without technology, as you call it, obviously I couldn't really work isolated out here. I mean, things have gotten much more easy to manage for somebody like me, who is a novice as far as being able to work all this stuff. But it's been made very simple for me. So, I press a button and I'm on this track, and I want to put a bass on and then I'm on another track - and then I mix it all together. So it's like a real artist's studio. All the colors are there It's like a canvas and you actually do...like an artist you're just like yourself, with the colors and the brush, and you build this whole sketch up - and then when you've done that, you present your sketch to the band and then to the engineers and then you really go to work on the big canvas. I guess that's the best way to put it.

So technology not only helps you write, but also communicate?

RD: It does, and well. For example, I used to be a drummer and so I have the Roland electronic drums, which I love, and you don't have to mess with microphones trying to get drum sounds and all the rest of it. You turn them on, you play them and you have a selection of hundreds of different kit sounds and stuff like that. I drum along to it. It gives it a much more band feeling than drum machines. Present it to the guys, and it's the best way to express what I'm trying to get.

Tell us about your early experiences with music? Was playing music a big part of your life growing up?

RD: Personally, I was always attracted to drums. Drums is my love - still is my number one love. As a kid, I used to hear the drums marching along the street in England, in my home town, when there was some kind of parade, and it was the most fantastic sound to me. Then, eventually, I got some drums and I took lessons. I was very serious about it. That's all I wanted to be, to be honest. I didn't want any complications of arrangements and learning all those scales and all that stuff. I just wanted to be a great drummer. I figured if I could do that - I mean a real drummer, read music and play with big bands, rock bands, classical, Latin, know what I was going to do - I would be in demand and my life was set. Be kinda like Tiger Woods. He learned how to hit a golf ball when he was six, and that was it. But of course, it didn't work out that way. [laughs] Eventually I started fiddling with the keyboards, and that seemed to go over better than my drumming, for some reason. So, you've gotta go with what people react to.

I was wondering if you could tell us what it's like to work with Mark Hart?

RD: Mark Hart is one of the great guys - I mean he really is. He's been with us a long time...when was it...actually '88. He's just a guy who can do it all, but he's not overbearing about it. He's very cool about it. He's almost too talented actually, 'cause he keeps going into things. Like if he sees somebody playing the bagpipes he'll - "I gotta learn to play the bagpipes." Doesn't matter what it is, you know - and I try to steer him clear of bagpipes and stuff like that, but he's a very talented guy.

What kind of role does Mark play in the studio? Is this his first time collaborating with you in the recording process?

RD: Well, we've worked together now for quite a few albums. Our last project was the live record we did in Europe and Mark helped me out. It was the same team actually. It was Jay the engineer, and Mark and me. I think we did a really good job on that album. It's just - he picks up little bits that I don't see and vice versa. As a team it's just very, very complimentary.

What is it like working with Jay Messina? What kind of a producer is he?

RD: That's the great thing about Jay. He's not just an engineer in the old sense - "Well, I want this" and he gets it. If he thinks something isn't right, he'll put a little smirk on his face that tells you you're going in the wrong direction and he's right ninety-nine percent of the time, which is great. Everybody is very valuable in this set up. We set up the track. Usually Jay comes in with Jason. We decide what song we're going to do. They come in and they figure out where they're going to have everything, what comes up on what track and all that, and then we'll come in a bit later and see where he's got the thing to, and then we'll tweak it, if we have to do a little bit of extra recording or come up with a few ideas to just push it over to a finished thing. That's the way we work.

What would you say is the Supertramp sound, in relation to the engineering part? Does Jay help you get that out or does Mark help you get that out?

RD: We always go for clarity. Make sure that...we like to be able to hear everything. A lot of that is arrangement, but then again the way it's mixed and all the rest of it - it's important to bring that out as well. So, I guess if you have to sum it up in one word, its "clarity."