Los Angeles, CA -- Some songwriters are a slave to inspiration and must write whenever the mood strikes. That's not the case for Page Hamilton of Helmet.

Hamilton -- who helmed Helmet between 1989 and 1998 -- says that while inspiration is important, you have to be careful about how and when you use it.

In his words, "Sometimes at the end of a tour -- when everybody's been stuck together for months -- you'll get a musical idea and have to avoid turning it into a character assassination of a bandmate."

His solution is to keep his lyrical ideas to himself until he gets some free time and can work on them without resorting to name-calling.

Hamilton is fairly happy with the results. He says, at best, his music sounds like "a big bowl of ice cream surrounding some spinach."

Helmet has just released a new compilation album, "Unsung: The Very Best Of Helmet" and the band may release new material this summer.

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