No matter what you do, if you're trying to create something new, your environment has a massive impact on you.

Arty. To me the word's got as much venom associated with it as 'wacky'.

If I was a fan of someone as a teenager, then it's OK for me to feel completely in awe when I meet them.

Traditionally, lots of vagrants and unemployable characters wind up working in kitchens.

Just because you can leap off a drum kit doing a scissors kick while hitting a chord, people expect you to be an extrovert socially. But I'm not always comfortable with the idea of small talk at a party.

It's easy to be lazy when there's food lying around backstage or there's a fast-food joint a couple blocks away. But if you walk a little further, ask around a bit, of course there are exciting things to discover.

You can't write for the cultural environment - if you do that, by the time it comes out, that cultural environment has passed. You have to be aiming for something that's original - that's the only way you can have any kind of impact.