I think that the history of rock could be recycled in a different way and brought back into focus without the luggage that comes along with it.

Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd was the first person in rock I had seen with makeup on. He wore black nail polish and lots of mascara and black eye shadow, and he was so mysterious. It was this androgynous thing I found absolutely fascinating.

The people who don't know so much about me regard me more sexually.

I'm well past the age where I'm acceptable. You get to a certain age and you are forbidden access. You're not going to get the kind of coverage that you would like in music magazines, you're not going to get played on radio and you're not going to get played on television. I have to survive on word of mouth.

My mother was a housewife. Both from - well, my father was from a farming family, agricultural family in the north of England. And my mother came from a very working class.

He took it all too far, but boy could he play guitar.

Once I've written something it does tend to run away from me. I don't seem to have any part of it - it's no longer my piece of writing.