I suppose we all loved those kind of sci-fi movies where terrible things came out of swamps and came to Mars. And there's usually some poor girl. All the guys are trying to desperately handle levers and saying, go to something or other.

Eric Clapton always wanted to come out onstage with a stuffed parrot on his shoulder.

I wasn't aware that Track Records were interested in the Bonzos.

As I said, when we needed to move over to rock'n'roll, Sam and Vernon couldn't quite make the shift. So that's when Larry took over on drums, and we needed a bass player.

But we used to go to flea markets and things, and look for old 78 records that had silly song titles.

I see my role in the Bonzos as being the straight man, in many ways.

Because Larry, by then, was a drummer, who would sort of get bored and tired, and rather stand up and blow kisses to people. So we needed the bass to sort of drive along.