Greg Lake on his continual search for a knowledge that is worldly, in nature

I don't know where it came from. My mother was an interesting person from that point of view; sort of a philosophical type of person.
She was a very wise woman. Some of that I probably inherited from my mom, and the rest of it, you can only put it down to the fact that I've lived a very broad life in the sense of traveling, meeting extraordinary people and experiencing some amazing moments in the context of live concerts. All of this goes to giving you a collective store of knowledge and information, I suppose. But, in another sense, it is simply a matter of what you're interested in.

I'm interested in history. For some reason, the events of the past simply fascinate me. I suppose it's a matter of wanting to see how things came to be the way they are. I'm always wondering, "Why did that happen?" And so on. It's like a hobby, in the way that anyone would have a hobby. It could be anything. Being a musician, at the time I was in the bands that I was in, allowed me to have extraordinary perspective. I was able to view life from so many different standpoints. I'm sure that anyone who has lived the life that I have lived would, in that sense, be worldly.

I suppose it comes with the territory from the career I have been able to have. And for that, I am extremely grateful. I think some people are attuned to benefiting from it, and learning from it, and enjoying it, and other people just go through it. I think it depends on who you are as to how much that experience is useful to what you do in the end. I was one of the people who absorbed it all and tried to learn from the experience. My philosophy is, that wherever I am in the world, I always try to make it the best and most interesting experience that I possibly can, no matter what. I always try to look into the culture of the people. It is amazing what you can discover in the most unlikely places. There are indeed, very few places I have ever been, where I haven't been able to find something good.

If we had a gig in San Antonio, and I had the afternoon off, I would be in a car on my way to see The Alamo and to learn about the American - Mexican War. After all, when you've seen one shopping mall, you've seen them all!