1. Please describe your state of mind when you are creating something.
I try to just remove myself from whatever is going on in my life in that moment and clear my mind of any distractions. There's a sort of focus that you can get into where time starts moving much faster and you can perfect the thing you're working on for hours and hours without noticing any exhaustion.

2. How much of your creative ability do you think is innate? Or is your creativity a skill that you have developed?
I think for me most of my creative abilities are learned. I don't have musical or other ideas rushing through my mind at all times, but when I dedicate myself to developing ideas or deliberately creating an inspiring environment, they come more easily now than when I started.

3. How do you go about evaluating your creative product?
The first stage is just judging whether I like the product as a listener, viewer, or consumer. In the case of our band's music, my second question is always what Max, my partner, thinks about it, because he is very discerning and finds the flaws very quickly. Then once something passes both of those tests I like to "test" stuff out on lots of different people of different ages and tastes.

4. Can you see your finished product before you start it?
Once it gets to a certain point, yes, because I have a good amount of experience recording and can fill in some of the blanks. But I don't start with a full picture in my mind.

5. How important is education to your creative process?
Very important. There are so many different ways to educate oneself, and I'm thankful that I have almost constant opportunities to be around talented and interesting people, who educate me through osmosis. I also find that "cross-training" my mind sharpens my abilities in many different realms. Reading seems to help music making and vice verse, for example. The different areas of our brains are cross-wired to such an extent that I suspect there's a good biological basis for my experience, as well.

6. What kind of things do you do to get your "creative juices" flowing?
Get rid of distractions. When it comes to coming up with melodies or lyrics, which is primarily what I do as a songwriter, I like to put on the music loud and pace around singing out loud until I stumble upon good ideas.

7. What made you decide to follow a creative career choice (though possibly risky) rather than something more stable?
Getting paid to make music with your friends is hard to turn-down. I love the freedom that it permits to explore many different areas of society, and it's an incredible way to connect with huge numbers of people. The instability is certainly a downside, but as this recession has shown, stability can be illusory in many different fields.

Thanks to D.A. Wallach for his participation and creative savvy. He's a gentleman and a scholar.

D.A. Wallach and Max Drummey are Star Trak Records famous pop music duo known as Chester French. D.A. and Max are currently working on their next full length album with plans for a 2010 release.

Visit Chester French's Blog: The Chester French Blog
For more information on D.A. and Chester French Visit Here

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To buy the critically acclaimed Chester French debut album "Love The Future" Visit Here. You also have the creative possibilities of bundling the album with some great options like merchandise, vinyl records, work outs, slumber parties and even an African safari.