I didn't grasp the basic principle of being a promoter, which was: Put on music but also generate an income. I was on the dole most of the time.

If success had come along when I was 17 it would either have killed me or sent me completely mad.

Anyone can play an instrument if you show them how to move their limbs, lips or fingers the right way. It's irrelevant. What is relevant is personality, energy, creativity and disturbing sense of humour.

Boredom or being sick of what you've done before is a big part of being in a band.

There's a character that I play onstage, and I can't let him loose in the supermarket when I'm buying my beans on toast.

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.

I find American football quite ridiculous generally. I don't understand it. It looks like a lot of guys dressed up as spacemen shouting at each other.