Music has been already devalued by the consumer. There's an expectation that it should be free so the race to the bottom has already been won.

An old bandit adage: A bell is a cup until it is struck.

All instruments sound fantastic in a church.

My mother was a Chinese trapeze artist in pre-war Paris Smuggling bombs for the underground. And she met my father at a fete in Aix-en-Provence; He was disguised as a Russian cadet in the employ of the Axis.

I'd rather have a strong career, playing and selling records to a loyal audience, then having one record that exploded. That would be devastating.

I think the music should definitely underscore the sentiment of the song, and it can work for or against it. It has just as much power in creating a kind of perpendicular sentiment in the music, creating a nice friction that also plays up some of the tension in the song.

I like all sorts of things, not necessarily just Victorian. Even though I tend to read a lot of Victorian novels, I like a lot of contemporary stuff.