He tells Songfacts: "This album is different. When I was with Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver, one of the guys would have a song idea and we'd suss it out with the band. Then I'd write my melodies and then write my lyrics to the melodies.

"As a solo artist, I felt free to go off and explore different musical styles and find some sort of cosmic melting pot for it. That was fun, but it was more difficult to bring that to the stage because we had to have more players and a lot of effects.

"This is much more of an indie-sounding record but it still is very much a rock and roll record - there's big, fuzzy riffs and it's a whole new experience."