The thing about bands is everybody wants to be the next Oasis, and that doesn't mean slogging it out around the toilet [gigs], it means, "Give me the check, I need to go to the Levis shop and I need a 1960s Gibson."

You can't put a load of rockstars up on a stage and expect to wipe out global poverty. That's ludicrous.

Great music is in the ear of the beholder.

You're asking if I'm happy? I've got 87 million in the bank, I've got a Rolls Royce, I've got 3 stalkers, I'm about to go on the board at Manchester City, I'm part of the greatest band in the world. Am I happy with that? No, I'm not! I want more!

The thing about Manchester is...it all comes from here

Do you ever look at the sky and think, I'm glad I'm alive? After I heard System of a Down, I thought, I'm actually alive to hear the shittiest band of all time. Which is quite something when you think about it. Of all the bands that have gone before and all the bands that'll be in the future, I was around when the worst was around.

As soon as people realize that the majority of people in this country take drugs then the better off we'll all be. It's not like a scandalous sensation or anything like that... drugs is like getting up and having a cup of tea in the morning.