Since "Heartache Machine" is my first independent release, I really wanted the songs on it to make a statement about where I'm going as an artist and songwriter. I started making plans to get into the studio to record this EP pretty much as soon as I found out I was no longer going to be with my label. I really liked the three songs that I planned on recording but felt like there was a piece of the whole picture that was missing. "Heartache Machine" was that missing piece, and it became the title track to the project.

I walk my dog almost every night when I'm at home, and sometimes song ideas will come to me on these walks. I find that inspiration for songs often come when I'm doing something mundane like taking a shower or mowing the lawn or walking my dog. On this night, it was just a single line that came to me, "Turn up the beat. I'm a heartache machine." I didn't know exactly what it meant at the time, but I really liked the sound of it. So once I got home I messed around with some different things on my guitar and came up with a cool feel and some chords and a melody. I just didn't really know where to go with the lyrics.

A couple days later I saw the movie "Her" which stirred up a lot of thoughts about what it means to be human and feel pain and heartache. Then on the way home from the movie, the Miley Cyrus song "We Can't Stop" came on the radio. I had heard the song before. On any other day I probably would have just changed the station. But this time, in the state my brain was in, it hit me as less of a party song and more of a song about people trying to cover up their pain in whatever way they can. The song moved me in a way I didn't expect.

I went home and immediately wrote all of the lyrics to the song. I sometimes like writing songs where the mood contradicts the lyrical content. "Heartache Machine" became an upbeat, fun song about how everyone has so much heartache that we're constantly covering up with things that are only temporary.