I guess music, particularly the blues, is the only form of schizophrenia that has organised itself into being both legal and beneficial to society.

The British feel of blues has been hard, rather than emotional. Far too much emphasis on 12 bar, too little attention to words, far too little originality.

Since the age of 12, all my musical thinking has been influenced by Afro-American music.

I was considered as a jazz man rather than as a blues player. There were no blues players-you played one sort of jazz of another sort of jazz.

When I reflect on how things have changed, I can't help but laugh.

I wanted to be able to play guitar. I wanted to be able to make music hurt.

I'm a compulsive musician, but it's also a bloody good way out of having to do anything else.