I like situations that force me to rethink things.

I've always loved the rock & roll element to live shows, because whatever else I do, I'm basically a rock/pop performer, and that's what I like.

I was quite naïve, a boy from Southport. When I went to art college in Leeds, I lived in a basement flat, and I heard clunking on the stairs all night, and I thought it was just nurses going to work on the night shift at the local hospital! Then I found out it was all working girls upstairs. I suppose I came from a protected background and had my eyes opened wide by that side of city life.

I'm always more interested in trying things that will push me, and I don't care if I fall flat on my face doing it.

I love this idea of shape-shifting and changing when you put on clothes, and turn into somebody else.

I've got so much I want to do, and not a lot of time to do it in. People say to me, "You really shouldn't do so many records", because it actually harms your career.

The weird thing was that Soft Cell was supposed to have come and gone before I started the album.