I think generally playing live is a crap idea. So much of stage work is the presentation of personality, and I've never been interested in that.

When I went back to England after a year away, the country seemed stuck, dozing in a fairy tale, stifled by the weight of tradition.

People tend to play in their comfort zone, so the best things are achieved in a state of surprise, actually.

Songs that don't depend on composition depend instead on performance - so the fire has to be there in the playing.

What happens with notation is that it reduces things to a language which isn't necessarily appropriate to them. In the same way that words do, you get a much cruder version of what was actually intended.

I wanted to get rid of the element that had been considered essential in pop music: the voice.

I've got a feeling that music might not be the most interesting place to be in the world of things.