I am very sensitive to music, so I can quite easily allow myself to access that space in which I am completely taken over. And you can get quite a reaction out of the crowd when you do that.

Going to the Sahara Desert and meeting the Touareg band Tinariwen was a life-changing experience. All through that time, I have just carried on learning and meeting musicians, and I keep finding links between different forms.

I like to go to old versions and find out what effect beats and scales have on your body, how they can transport you.

I love communicating with people, and sometimes language is not enough. I think that's what poetry is, where you can mess with language and get through to things that can't be described or communicated through regular language or scientific processes.

I think the origins of music have probably to do with magic and transcendence as well.

I think entertainment is a perfectly noble occupation.

On a very technical level, I am a geek who is interested in the intricacy of rhythm playing, so I like comparing and working out its details.