I listen to Bill Stewart play the drums and when I have finished doing that, I listen to Bill Stewart.

You learn so much about music from all the people you surround yourself with - good, bad and indifferent. It's extremely hard to be specific.

One of the great things about having good players in your band is that you just ask them questions. You can pick up some good information that way.

People come with expectations and as a bandleader I constantly try to remind the audience to leave its expectations in the lobby.

I don't really remember a whole lot of sex, drugs and rock n' roll, really.

So I have the classic amateur's technique; I know some very tricky bits and I have large gaping holes.

I didn't write any music at all, and then, I remember Jon Anderson being very insistent saying that there were two kinds of musicians: the ones who wrote music and the ones who didn't. And clearly the ones who wrote music were more superior human beings in his mind. So he kind of nudged me and sort of prodded me into it. I picked it up slowly. Then I learned more about chords and harmony and I just kept adding to that. One of the great things about having good players in your band is that you just ask them questions. You can pick up some good information that way.