Most of it was nuts, but I was determined to be a drummer as soon as I left school.

I dare not drink before a gig because I'll get tired and blow it. So I have to sit drinking tea in a caravan.

I don't consider that I'm particularly influenced by anyone or anything. But when I started playing, I was influenced by early soul. It was just that feel, that sound.

My nerves before a gig got worse; I had terrible bad nerves all the time. Once we started... I was fine.

I've wanted to be a drummer since I was about five years old. I used to play on a bath salt container with wires on the bottom, and on a round coffee tin with a loose wire fixed to it to give a snare drum effect. Plus there were always my Mum's pots and pans. When I was ten, my Mum bought me a snare drum. My Dad bought me my first full drum kit when I was 15. It was almost prehistoric. Most of it was rust.

Sometimes you'd come up against a brick wall... or sometimes you go into a fill and you'd know halfway through it was going to be disastrous.

Mistreating your drum set is just one step below child abuse