ADAM GRANDUCIEL ON NEW ALBUM, GUITAR & TOM PETTY

"Music is inextricably tied to location. From the Bakersfield sound and Seattle grunge to New York hardcore punk and West Coast rap, a city and its culture can shape a scene. For psychedelic-rock band The War On Drugs, the soulful and experimental musical mecca of Philadelphia has been home since their formation in 2005.

So when it came time for frontman Adam Granduciel to start creating what would become the band's fourth studio album, A Deeper Understanding, the choice to record in Los Angeles was truly a musical one. Rock albums by Granduciel's heroes, including Neil Young and Warren Zevon, captured a different sentiment that drew him in and ultimately helped shape the band's most inventive album to date, which Rolling Stone described as 'an abstract-expressionist mural of synth-pop and heartland rock colored by bruised optimism and some of [Granduciel's] most generous, incandescent guitar ever.'

We sat down with Granduciel recently at Recording Academy headquarters to talk about L.A.'s influence on A Deeper Understanding, how he likes to see the world on tour, what he'd ask Jimmy Iovine, and his parting thoughts on the loss of Tom Petty."...Nate Hertweck.

Full interview at The Grammy Recording Academy