The things that I draw on, and the world that I feel part of, aren't particularly youth culture.

There are singers that I have enjoyed, from Nina Simone and Ray Charles onward. But the music that made music the number one thing for me as a youth was jazz.

I prefer the mystic clouds of nostalgia to the real thing, to be honest.

When I lost the use of my hi-hat and bass drum legs, I became basically a singer. I was a drummer who did a bit of singing, and then I became a singer who did a bit of percussion.

I understand why Vladimir Putin is very popular in Russia - he's probably the first Russian leader to not apologize for being Russian. People always pin it down to one man, but there's hundreds of millions of Russians of various sorts. Putin does seem to be very popular in Russia, if only because he stands up for Russians wherever they are, which is exactly what Americans do with Americans, of course.

We did not get any money from the early records. It was all taken by crooked managers. It is just a gangster's paradise.

I do think there are deep structural things that are wrong in the world.