Songwriter Chad Mills will be performing at Radio Radio for Tonic Ball VI. (Submitted by Chris M Photo Desig for The Star)

Songwriter displays a contemporary style to tell personal stories

Chad Mills first picked up a guitar in college 10 years ago, and soon after he began writing his own songs.

A few years later, Mills, 32, began playing shows. He's playing 80 live performances this year, despite a full-time job and family life.

The songwriter will be covering songs by The Clash (with a band) as part of Tonic Ball VI.

What attracted you to songwriting?

I've always been passionate about music. I always sing along. I got a reputation of knowing a lot of songs' lyrics when I was going through high school and college. People would tell me I sounded a lot like whoever I was singing. So I got the notion it would be pretty cool to pick up a guitar and be able to play those and sing them. I wouldn't need a radio to sing with. I wrote a lot of poetry in high school, too. That put me a little bit ahead of the curve when it came to songwriting.

How would you describe your sound?

I have the hardest time with that question. I guess you would say, it's kind of folk song. A singer-songwriter, well the classic would be Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens to more contemporary guys like Damien Rice and Amos Lee. I hesitate to say folk, because there's people that associate folk with that movie "A Mighty Wind." I guess a more contemporary folk sound.

How do you write your songs?

I've done them both ways. I write a melody and then write lyrics to the melody ... (though) most of the time I'm driven more towards beginning with lyrics. I think of a story to tell and kind of run with that. I get some lyrics down and as I start to write the lyrics I get a melody in my head. The song kind of creates its own feel. I already have an idea of what it's going to sound like and then play around on the guitar to find the right key.

What types of subject matter do you like to write about?

Probably the majority of my songs are from personal experience, stuff I've gone through, emotions I've felt. I'll write about stuff that happens around me whether it be current events or something that somebody else went through. I've written a lot of fun songs that don't mean much of anything. I'd say the majority of stuff that I write is things that have affected me personally.

Do you have an example of one your favorite personal songs?

I wrote a song ("A Life of Loving You") for my wife of five years and gave it to her the night before our wedding, just kind of trying to express the emotions I was feeling leading up to the wedding day. We've got two little girls; I've written a couple of songs about that whole experience, going through the pregnancy and delivery ("Expecting"). Obviously those are the things that are nearest to my heart and mean the most. I find things like that are pretty easy to write about. Once I start to write it seems the floodgates open, so it's pretty easy to express how I feel the more personal it is.